Utopia Planitia is the location where the Viking 2 Mars lander landed and first explored on September 3, 1976. The lander's Camera 1 provided a photograph of the landing site (seen at right), which was later given the following caption:

"This high-resolution color photo of the surface of Mars was taken by Viking Lander 2 at its Utopia Planitia landing site on May 18, 1979, and relayed to Earth by Orbiter 1 on June 7. It shows a thin coating of water ice on the rocks and soil. The time the frost appeared corresponds almost exactly with the buildup of frost one Martian year (23 Earth months) ago. Then it remained on the surface for about 100 days. Scientists believe dust particles in the atmosphere pick up bits of solid water. That combination is not heavy enough to settle to the ground. But carbon dioxide, which makes up 95 percent of the Martian atmosphere, freezes and adheres to the particles and they become heavy enough to sink. Warmed by the Sun, the surface evaporates the carbon dioxide and returns it to the atmosphere, leaving behind the water and dust. The ice seen in this picture, like that which formed one Martian year ago, is extremely thin, perhaps no more than one-thousandth of an inch thick." (NASA/JPL)

In the fictional Star Trek universe, Utopia Planitia is home to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, both on the surface of the planet and in orbit. The Galaxy class of starships, including the USS Enterprise-D, were designed and built there. The later USS Voyager also came from the shipyards.

External links

• VL2 Site: Utopia Planitia (NASA)
• PIA00576: Martian Sunrise at Utopia Planitia (NASA Photojournal)
• PIA00530: Frost on Utopia Planitia (NASA Photojournal)
• PIA03796: Utopia Planitia (NASA Photojournal)