1-154-850 - NASA/Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Part of the Grand Canyon, Marineris Vallis, on Mars, 1976. This view was taken by the Viking Orbiter 1 spacecraft. The canyons are some 4000 kilometres long and are over 6 kilometres deep in places. Two Viking spacecraft were launched towards Mars in 1975, each carrying a lander spacecraft and an orbiter. Both successfully landed their probes on Mars to study the Martian environment, soil constituents and to search for simple life forms, however none was found.