Mars presentation AOK

This afternoon I had to present on the Viking missions to Mars in 1976 by the United States for my last Master's course. I don't have a Viking toy but I do have a Sojourner (about the size of a matchbox) which I have sitting on some yellow sugar tinted reddish-orange in post production to give it more of a Martian effect. The presentation went well. A little long but otherwise fine. It was part of an overall course investigating the possibilities of extraterrestrial life forms elsewhere using extremophile lifeforms on Earth as possible models. It is a fascinating course and part of my program in Science and Technology Studies.

In 1976, it was felt they found no evidence of life on Mars. However, some new theory and experimentation and replication of Mars experiments has re-opened the debate very recently. Viking may have indeed discovered trace evidence of organic matter but was, at the time, dismissed.