Footpad Temperature Data - CERTIFIED









    Viking Footpads





    Diurnal temperature cycles were derived from the thermocouple footpad sensors for Mission Years 1-4. During Mission Year 4 temperatures were cooler during the day and warmer at night compared to those of Year 3; this is consistent with the greater dust optical depth that occurred at this season during Year 4 compared to Year 3. The footpad sensors are subject to variation in heating of spacecraft components and seasonal shading by the spacecraft.

    The martian near-surface temperatures were obtained from the Viking Lander 1 and 2 thermocouple footpad temperature sensors.
    Temperature datasets

    Citing Data Sets for Publications

    J. E.Tillman (1989), VL1/VL2-M-MET-4-BINNED-P-T-V-V1.0, NASA Planetary Data System, https://doi.org/10.17189/1518948.