Viking Biology Instrument

The Viking Biology Instrument (VBI), described elsewhere (Klein, 1974, 1976; Klein et al., 1976a) consisted of four modules: one for each of the three biology experiments (Pyrolitic Release Experiment, Gas Exchange Experiment, and Labeled Release Experiment) and one for common services.

Martian soil samples were delivered to the VBI through the biology processor. After the sampler arm/collector head had acquired a sample of soil, the sampler arm is then positioned with the collector head directly above the biology processor. To deposit the sample, the collector head rotated to an inverted position and was vibrated to help soil pass through the collector head sieve. The sieving device kept particles larger than 2 mm from entering the VBI. The soil passed into a soil distribution assembly within the VBI, which then automatically delivered measured volumes of soil to each of the three experiments. The experiments were housed in individual modules, which together with a common services module and an electronic subassembly, comprised the VBI. The figure below shows a schematic of the VBI with components of the LR instrument highlighted.

Click image to enlarge.