Twenty Years Ago Viking 1 Invaded Mars to Search for Life with TRW-Built Device.CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 1996--Think the new film Independence Day is hot stuff? Think an alien invasion is cool? It's been done before -- for real. Twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. ago this Saturday a U.S. space probe invaded Mars to seek out life. The craft used a TRW-developed biology instrument package -- itself a marvel of miniaturization min·i·a·tur·ize tr.v. min·i·a·tur·ized, min·i·a·tur·iz·ing, min·i·a·tur·iz·es To plan or make on a greatly reduced scale. min -- to determine whether life as we know it Life As We Know It is an American television drama on the ABC network during the 2004-2005 season. It was created by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. The series was based on the novel Doing It by British writer Melvin Burgess. existed on the mysterious red planet. NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft touched down on Mars' Chryse plain July 20, 1976, and piqued imaginations worldwide. The 2,375-pound lander sent back striking images of the Martian landscape some 225 million miles from Earth. The instrument package relayed tantalizing tan·ta·lize tr.v. tan·ta·lized, tan·ta·liz·ing, tan·ta·liz·es To excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach. chemical and biological information that is still being debated. A second craft, Viking 2, landed on September 3, 1976. Viking had to overcome major technical hurdles. The lander was miniaturized for compactness and minimum weight to compensate for the absence of astronauts and the long communication time -- about 40 minutes for a two-way message -- between Earth and Mars. In addition, it was designed to accomplish complex laboratory objectives while exposed to environmental extremes on Mars. For the Viking program, TRW TRW The Real World (TV reality show) TRW The Right Way TRW Tactical Reconnaissance Wing TRW The Retriever Weekly (University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD) TRW Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc scientists and engineers, working without the aid of today's supercomputers or microprocessors, condensed con·dense v. con·densed, con·dens·ing, con·dens·es v.tr. 1. To reduce the volume or compass of. 2. To make more concise; abridge or shorten. 3. Physics a. the equivalent of three 10-foot by 10-foot biology laboratories into a one-foot cube -- about the size of a car battery -- to conduct atmospheric and soil tests. The miniaturized laboratory was the most complex automated system ever attempted for space experimentation. "The technical challenges involved in developing the biology instrument package were enormous," said Peter Staudhammer, TRW's vice president of science and technology, who was the chief engineer for the instrument package project in the early 1970s. "We had to create an instrument that was amazingly compact and lightweight and still perform the necessary experiments. That meant figuring out how to shrink the test equipment, keep it sterile, and make it withstand the rigors of space flight and the harsh Martian atmosphere." After five years of studies, tests, manufacturing, and seemingly endless refinements, TRW scientists delivered the instrument package: a cube of stainless steel stainless steel: see steel. stainless steel Any of a family of alloy steels usually containing 10–30% chromium. The presence of chromium, together with low carbon content, gives remarkable resistance to corrosion and heat. and magnesium-thorium that ran on 15 to 30 watts of power. The package contained a miniature computer to operate the experiments, small beta radiation Beta radiation Streams of electrons emitted by beta emitters like carbon-14 and radium. Mentioned in: Pinguecula and Pterygium radiation detectors, gas chromatographs, valves, heaters, coolers, a miniature solar simulator, and cells to contain and test the Martian soil. A robot arm scooped soil samples into the device, which tested metabolism of possible Martian organisms, carbon assimilation, and gas changes in the soil. Though no definitive signs of life were found at the two landing sites, at least in the form that we would recognize on Earth, the results were intriguing in terms of the rich Martian soil chemistry. TRW also produced the Viking meteorological me·te·or·ol·o·gy n. The science that deals with the phenomena of the atmosphere, especially weather and weather conditions. [French météorologie, from Greek instrument that studied Martian weather. The search for life on Mars Scientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. It remains an open question whether life exists on Mars now, or existed there in the past. is not completely over. Evidence of canyons and riverbeds on the Martian surface has convinced some scientists that water once flowed on the planet. In December, the first in a series of missions will be launched to search for evidence of life once again, this time in a different part of Mars. As for the possibility of finding life outside our solar system, Dr. Staudhammer, a 37-year TRW veteran, says enthusiastically, "Of course it is possible. In fact, some scientists felt we should have landed Viking at the polar caps of Mars, where there may be water and possibly life. Regardless, it is a matter of where to look next -- maybe on one of the moons of Jupiter Jupiter has sixty-three known natural satellites. Discovery of the moons Although claims are made for the observation of one of Jupiter's moons by Chinese astronomer Gan De in 364 BC, the first certain observations of Jupiter's satellites are those of Galileo . Europa, with lots of water, would be a good bet. The fact is, if we look long and hard enough, there is a good chance we will find something." Since 1958, TRW has built more that 185 communications, defense, and scientific spacecraft; produced, integrated, and tested more than 130 communications payloads and subsystems; developed more than 200 advanced space instruments; and integrated more than 550 experiments into their host spacecraft. TRW, based in Cleveland, Ohio, provides advanced technology products and services for the automotive and space and defense markets worldwide. The company's 1995 sales were $10.2 billion. CONTACT: TRW Inc., Cleveland Jack Powell, 216/291-7466 |
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