What is this item photographed on Mars?

The following photograph was taken by the Viking 2 lander.

The fullsize image




Item in question?



Been searching but cannot find what it could possibly be, anyone with an idea please give your thoughs.

[edit on 7-1-2006 by JohnnyUK]

looks like something that feel off the rover, maybe a compressor of some sort?
Flux capacitor maybe?

Not sure what that object is

But in the BIG pic what is that Leg attached to ???
Thats not a Viking Orbiter is it or a Mars Rover


?? What is that

It's one of the experiments from the Lander, some sort of scoop if I remember rightly.

At the base of the leg is the footpads for the lander.

[edit on 7-1-2006 by JohnnyUK]

The corner piece looks like the Viking leg. The broken off piece definitely is some sort of metal part, and I think it's one of the pieces that I've circled in the following image, though I have no explanation as to how it came off, unless it was damaged in the landing or else was designed to come off for an experiment or something.

edit: to add that also one of the Viking experiments was to test the soil with a scoop for signs of life. It looked for things like amino acids and other telltale signs, so maybe it's from that?

[edit on 7-1-2006 by DragonsDemesne]

looks fairly small, and if it is a scoop what is it attached to?

and those objects you circled are too big to be the object in question.. those are the cameras IIRC.

FOund the caption to the picture on this site
www.solarviews.com...

Lander 2 Site
Viking Lander 2 used its sampler arm to dig these two trenches in the regolith. The shroud that protected the soil collector head during the lander's descent lies a short distance away. The lander's footpad is visible in the lower right corner of the image. The rounded rock in the center foreground is about 20 centimeters (8 inches) wide, while the angular rock farther back and to the right is about 1.5 meters (5 feet) across. The gently sloping troughs between the artificial trenches and the angular rock, which cut from the middle left to the lower right corner, are natural surface features.

and also here is a differant picture:
nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov...

[edit on 1/7/2006 by Jehosephat]

Think you`ve put the nail in the coffin Demesne, most probable reason is that it broke off on impact.
I like to take the more sinister idea that some sort of entity broke it off, but I doubt that is the case

Originally posted by JohnnyUK
Think you`ve put the nail in the coffin Demesne, most probable reason is that it broke off on impact.
I like to take the more sinister idea that some sort of entity broke it off, but I doubt that is the case

might want to hit refresh before you post next time

Originally posted by JohnnyUK
most probable reason is that it broke off on impact.

It was actually ejected from the lander after it landed...

The metal cylinder at right is the shroud for the surface sampler instrument, which was ejected after landing.

nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov...

It was also discussed here about 2 yrs ago...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Well, mystery solved, I'd say. With two people finding sources that the metal piece is the shroud for the scoop, that's probably what it is. That would explain why it's near the probe and why there's no apparent damage to it.

(And since I haven't been here as long as Jedi Master, the previous thread was totally unknown to me, and probably to JohnnyUK as well)

and those objects you circled are too big to be the object in question.. those are the cameras IIRC.

Oops They do look similar, though, and I couldn't tell the difference in size between the two pictures, since I have no idea how big the shroud or the circled objects are in real life.

I would like to know what happened to the dirt directly left to the shroud. Looks like the dirt was moved, almost like a gopher or a mole???? Interesting!

Hmm, it does look like something disturbed the dirt there. Maybe that's where the scoop picked up some dirt to test. The viking had this long probe thing that would come out and retract again to do just that.

You are correct DD, from the NASA link posted above...

To the left of it are trenches dug by the sampling arm,

wow.. i think some people shoudl spend a little more effort in research isntead of coming up with some rather wild assumptions