Facsimile camera test image, of Martin Marietta taken June 1974.

Picture 9. This picture was taken with the Viking 75 Lander Camera during a period of science testing in June 1974. This is a facsimile camera, different in design from the television and film cameras which have been used in many space missions. The field of view is not imaged simultaneously. Instead, adjacent vertical lines are successively scanned. Reflected light from each of the "picture elements" in the line is recorded on a very small photodiode located in the focal plane of the camera. 12 diodes are available for use, each optimized for a different distance and different part of the visible-neat Infrared spectrum. This picture is a panoramic far distance shot from a site overlooking the Martin Marietta Denver Facility. The veritical field of view is 60 degrees and the azimuth field of view is 120 degrees. (The verbiage prior is quoted from the mission photo caption. No verbiage was added by VMMEPP)