Utopia Planitia

Northern lava plain on the planet Mars that was selected as the landing site of the U.S. Viking 2 planetary probe. Photographs transmitted from the Viking 2 lander, which touched down at 47.97� N, 225.74� W, on September 3, 1976, depicted a boulder-strewn plain that superficially resembles the Viking 1 landing site in Chryse Planitia. Soil-sample analyses conducted by the landers show that the