NASA VIKING Mars GCMS Portable Power Unit

The Viking GCMS (Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer) was used to first try to detect signs of life on the surface of Mars in 1976.

This power unit is in the front of the custom shipping case with the GCMS unit. It provides the power rail and can be used for sterilization and testing.

NASA summary: “In the wake of the Mariner missions to Mars, the search for signs of life was paramount. The instrument responsible for finding evidence of life in the soil was the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GCMS). Developing a GCMS for the billion-dollar Viking project proved very challenging. During the early seventies, Dr. Klaus Biermann of MIT, leader of the molecular organic analysis team, had a GCMS the size of a room-its operator could literally walk through it. The instrument for Viking needed to be the equivalent of a 15 kg hatbox.

For several years, the GCMS topped Viking project manager Jim Martin’s “Top Ten Problems” list. Martin managed to remove the GCMS from his Top Ten Problems list in May 1975, just weeks before the first Viking launch.”

I also did a recent video overview of the Viking Lander Biological Instrument (VLBI) and GCMS.