rsJgc swee 1 nc 0LJ _ II6 iMA LI IILT uesclay, July LU%4%1976 w I-age r wo I HC M foHlbAN DAILY Tuesay, July 20,17 Viking PASADENA, Calif. (AP)-The unmanned Viking I landing craft was declared ready yes- terday to cast off from its moth- er ship circling Mars and fall on its own through the atmo- sphere for a soft landing and ma-n's first search for life on the red planet's surface. If it succeeds in landing on the desert surface today and sends usable data to earth, Vik- ing will eclipse previous Soviet attempts. Two Russian landers fell mysteriouslyusilent just af- ter dropping to the surface of the planet in 1971. A CHECKOUT of the complex lander's experiments and cam- eras, while it was still linked to its mother ship, went "by the book," officials said yester- day. Final commands radioed to the spacecraft just before mid- night yesterday would trigger an automatic sequence of events ending with the lander's touch- down at 4:52 a.m. PDT today on the landing site, called Chryse. Fate of the lander will not be known for at least 19 min- utes after it touches down be- cause of the time it takes radio signals to reach Earth, 230 mil- lion miles away. By COINCIDENCE, the land- ing was to occur on the sev- enth anniversary of man's first step on the moon. Within seconds of landing, the camera atop the squat, three- legged craft is to begin snap- ping photographs of the sur- face. They would be the first photographs of Mars taken at ground level. Scientists expect to see a barren, sandy plain with meteorite craters scat- tered here and there and vol- canic ridges winding across the plain. One scientist said it might look much like an area of the Arizona desert that surrounds a meteor crater. The pictures, to be radioed to earth, were expected to appear on televis- ion sets at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here within an hour. EIGHT DAYS AFTER land- ing, a telescoping claw attach- ed to the 1,300-pound lander is to reach out and scoop a hand- ful of Martian soil, then dump it into miniaturized biochemical laboratories to be analyzed for !J h .r a IS difference!!! . PREAR FORt: S MCAT Over35ears " Y ~ of xprinc DAT Sacasses LSAT ms Vlreves omylas " GRE study mataerials OCAT " " lessons an fr use. CP T of supplementary 0 FLEX materials onems o "| :ECFMG - -es-ns NAT'L MED BDS NAT'L DENT BDS i Write or cnit " 1945 Paulne Blvd. * o Au Arbor 410a . " 6-3149 *~~fi ii~sJI4,~ E5OJCATiONA.. CENLTER# * ES rrREPA RA Tss So::z: :SINC:j~ I ready for Mars landing signs of life. Most scientists think Mars is too dry and barren to support life. But, as it orbited the planet once a day for a month to scout possible landing sites, the Vik- ing orbiter photographed many features having the appearance of ancient streambeds carved by water. IF WATER once flowed, liv- ing organisms may have thriv- ed, some thing, and the sophis- ticated Viking detectors should be able to spot signs of them, Viking I, the first of two un- manned American spacecraft scheduled to land on Mars this summer, was launched last August 20. It arrived near Mars and went into orbit around the planet - which is about half the size of earth - a month ago. A planned July 4 landing was called off when scientists study- ing pictures taken from orbit found the terrain much more rugged than they had expected, threatening to damage or top- ple the delicate craft. A sec- ond landing date was put off for similar reasons before Tues- day's landing site was chosen. EVERY MOVE of Viking's descent to the surface is con- trolled by a computer aboard the craft. Because of the dis- tance and 19-minute time-lag - each way - for radio sig- oats, commands from earth would arrive far too late to react to emergencies. The landing sequence will be- gin with the separation of the lander from the orbiting mother ship about 3 hours before the planned touchdown. The lander enters the Martian atmosphere traveling at about 14,000 miles per hour, then is slowed by a parachute and breaking rock- ets. During the first part of its trip through the thin atmo- sphere, the lander is covered by a streamlined, saucer-like shell and skims through the air like a wingless glider. WHEN IT IS 20,000 feet up, the shell pops off and the 50- foot parachute blossoms. Less than a minute later, the down- ward firing rockets add their blasts to help slow the craft. By the time it is 55 feelrabove the landing point, the craft is dropping at a speed of five miles per hour. The force of the touchdown is taken up by the three shock-absorbing legs. While the lander is falling toward the ground, instruments will be counting charged parti- cles in the atmosphere to en- able scientists to determine what gases it contains. Of special interest is how much of the inert gas argon is present. If it is abundant, sci- entists believe, it may indicate that the atmosphere was once much denser and more hospit- able to life. Life on Mars? Sci .. Fi* writers say yes PASADENA, Calif. (A) - In front row seats as Viking scratches around for life on Mars are some of America's greatest science fiction writers, hoping to see their dreams come true. "I'm sure we will find primitive life of some sore . . . at least traces of chlorophyll and bacteria," said Ray Brad- bury, author of many works on Mars, including the classic, "The Martian Chronicles." JOINING BRADBURY at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory this morning will be Gene Roddenberry, creator of the en- duringly popular "Star Trek" television series. Many of JPL's scientists are reported to be enthusias- tic "Star Trek" fans. Roddenberry said the Mars landing is much more excit- ing than the moon landing exactly seven years ago be- cause "it seems to be the one best chance of finding life in our solar system. "THIS IS THE most exciting thing to science fiction people," Roddenberry said, "because Mars has been the home of so many fanciful creatures." "It won't be necessary to find intelligent life there or it to be totally exciting," said Roddenberry. "It will prove that life is not an accident, that it is probably a common occurrence in the universe." The 230-million-mile journey to search for life is "beau- tiful, it's amazing," said George Pal, producer of such movies as "War of the Worlds," "Destination Moon" and "When Worlds Collide." "I HAVE A FEELING Viking is going to find some kind of life on Mars - not the kind we know, but something primitive and strange," Pal said. When Pal made his first space travel film, "Destina- tion Moon," in 1950, people considered it a fantasy. "But it actually came reasonably close to the actual moon mission because we have very good advisers," Pal said. Mars is such unknown territory that a proper name hasn't been picked for the linding site, which is on the western slope of a large dry basin called Chryse. Bradbury had a solution ready. "It should be named for me," he said immediately. "Why not? I think Mars belongs to Edgar Rice Burroughs creator of Martian tales such as "The Gods of Mars" as well as of Tarzan and myself. "We've done a sterling job with our 'travel agency' over all these years." Television viewing tonight 6:00 2 7 1 1 News 9 Room 222-Comedy-drama 20 Cisco Kid-Western 30 ZOOM-Children 50 Brady Bunch-Comedy 62 5 Spy-Adventure 6:30 4 13 NBC News 9 Newsday 1 C News-Walter Cronhte 20 Daniel Boone-Adventure 30 Hodgepodge Lodge- Children 50 1 Love Lucy-Comedy 7:00 2 CBS News-walter Cronkite 4 Bowling for Douars Game 7 ABC News-Harry Reasoner 9 Xl Olymnpic Gamses 11 Family Affair-Comedy 13 Hogan's Heroes-Comedy 30 Robert MacNeil Report 56 Family Affair-Come dy 36 Inner Tennis-Instruction 62 Speaking of Sports 7:30)-2Lasi of thseWild 4 iollywood Squares-Game 7 24 xxX Olympic Games 11 Pricer Is Right-Game 13 Adam-ll-Crime Drama 20 Stump The Stars-Game 30 Olympiad-Doeumentary 00 Hogan's Heroes-Comedy 56 Robert MacNe1l Report 42 News 9:00 2 11 Rhoda 0 13 Rich Little-Variety 20 It Takes A Thief-Adven- ture. 56 Nordjamb-Doumentary 02 Movie-Drama (Sw) "The Four Dayo of Maples.," 0:30 2 11 Phyilis-Comedy 30 Music Stand 9:00 2 11 All In The Family 013 Joe Forrester 20700 Ciub-Reigion 56 Movie-Documentary 9:30 2 11 M~aude 30 Movie-Comedy (bw) "The Man in the White Sat' 00oIDinah!t 10:00 2 11 Medical Center 4 13 Jigsaw John-Crime Drama 62 PTL Club-Religion 10:31 20 Lift in the Spirit 11:80 2 4 7 11 13 24 News 9 CBC News-George Ftnstad 20 Adventures in Paradise 50 Best of Groucho-Game (bw) 56 Who Built This Place? -Comedy 57 Lilia, Yoga and You 11:20 9 Nghtbeat 11:30 2 Mary Hartman, Mary Hart- man-Serial 4 13 Johnny Carson 1 24 XXI Olympic Games 11tMovie--Drama. "A Brand New Life." 50 Movie-Comedy (bw) "The Tattles of Tahiti' 56 ARC News-iarry Reasoner 11:45 7 Late, Great 196 11:55 9 heritage Highway 12:00 2 Movie-raa. "A Brand Now Sife" 9 XXI Olympic Games 62 News 1:00 4 Tomorrow-Tom Snyder 11 13 News 1:15 7 News 1:00 2 Movie-Comedy (bw) "Jis Busters." 2:00 4 Classroom 2:30 4 News 3:00 2 News THE MICHIGAN DAILY Volume LXXXVI, Na. 495S Tuesday, July 20, 1#76 is edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan News phone 704-0502. Second clas postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigon 43109. P'ublished d4611 y Tuesday throug~h Sunday morning during the Univer- sity year at 420 Mlaynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 .Sbsciption rates: $12 Sept. thru April (2 semes- tore) : $13 by mail outside Ann Arbor. Summer session published Tues- day through Saturday morning. Subscription ratea: $050 in Ana Arbor $7.50 by malt outside Ann Arbor. UAW LOCAL 2001 SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING WEDNESDAY, JULY 21 SCHORLING AUDITORIUM-SCHOOL OF EDUCATION 6:00 P.M. MEMBERSHIP ACTION ON ECONOMIC OR CONTRACT DEMANDS -PLUS- * Election Committee recommendations for steward, zone steward & trustee elections. * Nomination for the Office of Trustee. e Executive Board Recommendations. DAY CARE WILL BE PROVIDED FREE CHILDREN'S COMMUNITY CENTER, 317 N. 7TH, ANN ARBOR-FROM 5:30 P.M.