Celebrating Viking at 40 on This Week @NASA – July 22, 2016 | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

NASA commemorates the 40th anniversary of Viking 1's successful landing on Mars and discusses plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s; astronomers find evidence of potentially habitable atmospheres on two Earth-sized exoplanets; NASA's Kepler spacecraft confirms 104 new planets, including a system with four rocky worlds; International Space Station receives multiple cargo deliveries; climate change indicators break records in 2016; NASA launches ACT-America campaign to study greenhouse gas impact on climate change.

Key Insights

• 👾 NASA commemorates historic milestones in space exploration, such as Viking 1's first successful landing on Mars and the Apollo 11 moon landing.
• 💦 NASA is actively working towards sending humans to Mars in the 2030s.
• 👨‍🔬 Astronomers are using Hubble Space Telescope to search for potentially habitable atmospheres on exoplanets.
• 👶 Kepler spacecraft continues to confirm new exoplanets, including a planetary system with four rocky worlds.
• 🚚 International Space Station receives regular cargo deliveries, including crucial supplies and materials.
• 🤢 Climate change indicators, such as global surface temperature and Arctic sea ice extent, continue to break records in 2016.
• 💱 Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases are driving the long-term trends of change in climate change indicators.

Transcript

“Here’s some of the stories trending This Week at NASA!” Forty years ago, on July 20, 1976, Viking 1 became the first U.S. spacecraft to successfully land on Mars. To celebrate the anniversary of the historic robotic feat and to highlight NASA’s effort to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, Langley Research Center, in Hampton, Virginia hosted a two-d... Read More

Questions & Answers

Q: What was celebrated during the Viking at 40 event hosted by Langley Research Center?

The Viking at 40 event celebrated the 40th anniversary of Viking 1's successful landing on Mars and discussed NASA's efforts to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. The event included a history discussion about the Viking program and a symposium on the agency's journey to Mars.

Q: Which exoplanets were studied by astronomers using Hubble Space Telescope?

Astronomers used Hubble Space Telescope to search for atmospheres around temperate, Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system. They found indications that TRAPPIST-1b and TRAPPIST-1c, located about 40 light-years away, might have habitable atmospheres suitable for life as we know it.

Q: What did NASA's Kepler spacecraft confirm?

NASA's Kepler spacecraft confirmed 104 new planets out of an initial 197 planet candidates found outside our solar system. Among the confirmed planets, there is a planetary system consisting of four promising rocky worlds that are between 20 and 50 percent larger than Earth and orbit the M dwarf star K2-72, located 181 light years away.

Q: What significant events occurred on July 20, according to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden?

According to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, July 20 is the day when Viking 1 landed on Mars in 1976 and the Apollo 11 moon landing took place in 1969. Both events are considered significant American firsts and were recognized during a celebration at Nationals Park in Washington.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• NASA celebrates the 40th anniversary of Viking 1's landing on Mars and discusses plans for future human missions to Mars.

• Astronomers using Hubble Space Telescope find indications that TRAPPIST-1b and TRAPPIST-1c, two Earth-sized exoplanets, might have habitable atmospheres.

• Kepler spacecraft confirms 104 new planets, including a system with four rocky worlds orbiting the star K2-72.

• International Space Station receives cargo deliveries from Russian Progress and SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, including critical materials and the first international docking adapter.

• Climate change indicators, global surface temperature and Arctic sea ice extent, break records in 2016 due to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases.

• NASA launches the ACT-America campaign to study carbon dioxide and methane movement in the atmosphere and their impact on climate change.