Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This ITEK Corporation camera for the Viking Mars Lander Camera was a flight-qualified backup unit. Each Viking lander used two identical cameras during their landings in 1976 to image the surface of the red planet. Each camera was capable of resolving high and low resolution images in black and white and color by scanning the area with mirrors and photodetectors. The cameras did not use conventional film, and instead scanned the surface in vertical segments. They were mounted on the Lander such that they would be 1.3 meters above the surface of Mars, and 0.8 meters from each other to achieve stereoscopic images. Cameras like this produced the first detailed images of the Martian surface.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center transferred this artifact to the Museum in 2004.

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type EQUIPMENT-Photographic Manufacturer ITEK Corporation
 Dimensions 60.96 x 40.64cm (2ft x 1ft 4in.) (Approximate)
 Materials Steel, Aluminum, Teflon, Rubber, Plastic
 Inventory Number A20050005000 Credit Line Transferred from NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.