Viking Orbiter

E485882

Mars orbiter NASA spacecraft program

Viking Orbiter was a pair of NASA spacecraft launched in the 1970s that orbited Mars to map its surface, study its atmosphere, and support the Viking landers.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (5)

Label	Occurrences
Viking Orbiter canonical	2
Viking Orbiter cameras	2
Viking 1 orbiter	1
Viking 2 orbiter	1
Viking orbiters	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4885585 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Viking Orbiter
Context triple: [Valles Marineris, studiedByMission, Viking Orbiter]

A. Viking 2
Viking 2 was a NASA spacecraft and lander that conducted scientific investigations on the surface of Mars as part of the Viking program in the 1970s.
B. Viking 1
Viking 1 was a NASA spacecraft that became the first successful lander on Mars, conducting detailed imaging and scientific experiments on the Martian surface starting in 1976.
C. Mariner 9
Mariner 9 was a NASA robotic spacecraft that became the first artificial satellite of Mars, revolutionizing our understanding of the planet’s surface and atmosphere in the early 1970s.
D. Venera 9
Venera 9 was a Soviet spacecraft that became the first human-made probe to successfully return images from the surface of Venus.
E. Venera 6
Venera 6 was a Soviet space probe launched in 1969 to study the atmosphere of Venus during its descent.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Viking Orbiter
Target entity description: Viking Orbiter was a pair of NASA spacecraft launched in the 1970s that orbited Mars to map its surface, study its atmosphere, and support the Viking landers.

A. Viking 2
Viking 2 was a NASA spacecraft and lander that conducted scientific investigations on the surface of Mars as part of the Viking program in the 1970s.
B. Viking 1
Viking 1 was a NASA spacecraft that became the first successful lander on Mars, conducting detailed imaging and scientific experiments on the Martian surface starting in 1976.
C. Mariner 9
Mariner 9 was a NASA robotic spacecraft that became the first artificial satellite of Mars, revolutionizing our understanding of the planet’s surface and atmosphere in the early 1970s.
D. Venera 9
Venera 9 was a Soviet spacecraft that became the first human-made probe to successfully return images from the surface of Venus.
E. Venera 6
Venera 6 was a Soviet space probe launched in 1969 to study the atmosphere of Venus during its descent.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (39)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Mars orbiter ⓘ Mars orbiter ⓘ Mars orbiter ⓘ NASA spacecraft program ⓘ
arrivalAtMars	1976-06-19 ⓘ 1976-08-07 ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
destinationOrbit	Mars orbit NERFINISHED ⓘ
endOfMission	1978-07-25 ⓘ 1980-08-17 ⓘ
hasPart	Viking 1 Orbiter NERFINISHED ⓘ Viking 2 Orbiter NERFINISHED ⓘ
launchDate	1975-08-20 ⓘ 1975-09-09 ⓘ
launchDecade	1970s ⓘ
launchSite	Cape Canaveral Air Force Station NERFINISHED ⓘ
launchVehicle	Titan IIIE-Centaur NERFINISHED ⓘ
missionObjective	atmospheric studies of Mars ⓘ high-resolution imaging of Mars ⓘ map Martian surface ⓘ relay communications for landers ⓘ study Martian atmosphere ⓘ
missionRole	atmospheric studies ⓘ planetary mapping ⓘ support for Viking landers ⓘ
missionType	uncrewed ⓘ uncrewed Mars orbiter ⓘ
numberOfSpacecraft	2 ⓘ
operator	NASA ⓘ
partOf	Viking Orbiter NERFINISHED ⓘ Viking program NERFINISHED ⓘ
primaryMission	Mars exploration NERFINISHED ⓘ
programPhase	orbiter component of Viking program ⓘ
scientificDiscipline	astronomy ⓘ planetary science ⓘ
spaceAgency	NASA ⓘ
supportsSpacecraft	Viking 1 Lander NERFINISHED ⓘ Viking 2 Lander NERFINISHED ⓘ
target	Mars NERFINISHED ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Valles Marineris → studiedByMission → Viking Orbiter ⓘ

Tharsis volcanic plateau → studiedBy → Viking Orbiter ⓘ

this entity surface form: Viking orbiters

Viking 1 → component → Viking Orbiter ⓘ

this entity surface form: Viking 1 orbiter

Viking 2 → hasComponent → Viking Orbiter ⓘ

this entity surface form: Viking 2 orbiter

Ares Vallis → observedByOrbiter → Viking Orbiter ⓘ

Chryse Planitia → observedByInstrument → Viking Orbiter ⓘ

this entity surface form: Viking Orbiter cameras

Aeolis quadrangle → imageryAvailableFrom → Viking Orbiter ⓘ