A transmission in three locks

The picturearrived sideways.

Viking 1 had landed. The first image from the surface of Mars was already crossing space—but on Earth, it was still only timing.

Based on NASA/JPL image PIA00381 · no sound required

ABOUT THE SIGNAL

A picture was a stream before it was a place.

Viking 1 landed in Chryse Planitia on July 20, 1976. Minutes later it transmitted PIA00381, the first photograph taken from the surface of Mars. This experience uses a local copy of that NASA/JPL image and an authored simulation of line timing—not a reconstruction of the mission’s exact receiver controls.

See the source image at NASA ↗

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