Archivo: Mars Viking 11d128

Description: Original Caption Released with NASA image: The Viking 1 Lander sampling arm created a number of deep trenches as part of the surface composition and biology experiments on Mars. The digging tool on the sampling arm (at lower center) could scoop up samples of material and deposit them into the appropriate experiment. Some holes were dug deeper to study soil which was not affected by solar radiation and weathering. The trenches in this ESE looking image are in the "Sandy Flats" area of the landing site at Chryse Planitia. The boom holding the meteorology sensors is at left. More information can be found at Viking Lander Image 11D128.BLU, Viking Lander Image 11D128.GRN and Viking Lander Image 11D128.RED.
Title: Mars Viking 11d128
Credit: Own work based on images in the NASA Viking image archive
Author: "Roel van der Hoorn (Van der Hoorn)"
Permission: I used the original 11d128.blu, 11d128.grn and 11d128.red images from the NASA Viking image archive, converted them to .png, manually removed the noise and finally merged them into one image (almost matching true color; see here for the channel mixing process). Except for the conversion, this was all done in Adobe Photoshop CS2. The original files by NASA are in the public domain, and so is this new one.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No