Utopia Planitia

(yoo-toh -pee-ă) A smooth Martian plain located northwest of the Elysium Planitia volcanoes and centered on the coordinates 50° N latitude, 242° W longitude. It was chosen as the landing site of the Viking 2 Lander in 1976.

Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

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Viking probes

References in periodicals archive

An international team of researchers identified dozens of these geological bumps, some hundreds of meters wide, in satellite images of craters on Mars' Utopia Planitia. The mounds share similar dimensions and densities with Earth pingos, such as those found in northern Canada.

Say what?

Scientists announced last week that NASA's sharp-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) found ice in five freshly made impact craters, several very close to Viking 2's landing site in an equatorial region known as Utopia Planitia.

NASA's Viking 2 probe may have found water on Mars in 1976

Rock Instrumental Performance: Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia), The Flaming Lips.

BUTT OUT JUSTIN..; Kylie tells Timberlake to keep his hands off

Targeted for Arcadia Planitia and Utopia Planitia, its penetrators will drive sensors up to 6 meters into the Martian soil.

Three ships to Mars

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