Editing Viking program (section)

==== Communications ====
Communications were accomplished through a 20-watt S-band transmitter using two [[traveling-wave tube]]s. A two-axis steerable high-gain parabolic antenna was mounted on a boom near one edge of the lander base. An [[omnidirectional antenna|omnidirectional]] low-gain S-band antenna also extended from the base. Both these antennae allowed for communication directly with the Earth, permitting Viking 1 to continue to work long after both orbiters had failed. A [[UHF]] {{Nowrap|(381 MHz)}} antenna provided a one-way relay to the orbiter using a 30&nbsp;watt relay radio. Data storage was on a 40-Mbit tape recorder, and the lander computer had a 6000-[[Word (data type)|word]] memory for command instructions.