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-day “Viking at 40” event. On July 19, NASA’s Chief Historian Bill Barry moderated a history discussion about the Viking program and its contribution to Mars exploration. The next day, a 40th anniversary symposium called, “From NASA’s First Soft Landing to Humans on Mars” included a host of programs and featured Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan and other NASA experts discussing the agency’s Journey to Mars. Later that evening, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden was on hand at Nationals Park in Washington, as Viking 1 and the Apollo 11 moon landing anniversaries were recognized during a celebration of significant American firsts. These momentous events both happened on July 20, seven years apart. Also, Hubble’s Search for Exoplanet Atmospheres, Kepler’s K-2 Mission Confirms over 100 Exoplanets, Back-to-Back Cargo Deliveries to the ISS, Record Climate Trends Continue, and Studying Greenhouse Gases Over the Eastern U.S.

TRANSCRIPT

Celebrating Viking at 40

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-day “Viking at 40” event. On July 19, NASA’s Chief Historian Bill Barry moderated a history discussion about the Viking program and its contribution to Mars exploration. The next day, a 40th anniversary symposium called, “From NASA’s First Soft Landing to Humans on Mars” included a host of programs and featured Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan and other NASA experts discussing the agency’s Journey to Mars.

Later that evening, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden was on hand at Nationals Park in Washington, as Viking 1 and the Apollo 11 moon landing anniversaries were recognized during a celebration of significant American firsts. These momentous events both happened on July 20, seven years apart.

Hubble’s Search for Exoplanet Atmospheres

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have conducted the first search for atmospheres around temperate, Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system. The search found indications that two of those exoplanets, TRAPPIST-1b and TRAPPIST-1c, located about 40 light-years away, probably don’t have thick, hydrogen-dominated atmospheres usually found on gaseous worlds not considered habitable. Scientists say this finding increases the chances the two planets might have atmospheres that are habitable to life as we know it.

Kepler’s K-2 Mission Confirms over 100 Exoplanets

NASA announced July 18 that an international team of astronomers using NASA’s Kepler spacecraft on its K2 mission has confirmed 104 new planets, out of 197 initial planet candidates found outside our solar system. Among the confirmed new exoplanets is a planetary system comprising four promising worlds that could be rocky. They’re all between 20 and 50 percent larger than Earth by diameter and orbit the M dwarf star K2-72, 181 light years away.

Back-to-Back Cargo Deliveries to the ISS

Things were busy for the crew aboard the International Space Station thanks to two back-to-back cargo deliveries. On July 18, a Russian Progress cargo ship docked with more than three tons of food, fuel, and supplies. Two days later, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft arrived at the station with almost 5,000 pounds of supplies, including critical materials to support dozens of groundbreaking science and research investigations on the station. Also delivered was the first international docking adapter that will enable future commercial crew spacecraft to dock to the station.

Record Climate Trends Continue

According to NASA analyses of ground-based observations and satellite data, two key climate change indicators — global surface temperature and Arctic sea ice extent — have broken numerous records through the first half of 2016. Five of the year’s first six months set records for the smallest respective monthly Arctic sea ice extent since consistent satellite records began in 1979. January to June also was the planet’s warmest half-year on record, with an average temperature about 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the late nineteenth century. While these two key climate indicators have broken records in 2016, scientists say it’s more significant that these indicators are continuing their decades-long trends of change – which ultimately are driven by rising concentrations of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Studying Greenhouse Gases Over the Eastern U.S.

Langley Research Center hosted an event on July 15 to showcase NASA’s Atmospheric Carbon and Transport-America (ACT-America) campaign. The study will conduct five airborne campaigns across three regions in the eastern United States to study the movement of carbon dioxide and methane into and out of the atmosphere, in hopes of better understanding how these two powerful greenhouse gases impact climate change. The first ACT-America flights from Langley and NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia are scheduled July 18 through Sept. 2.

And that’s what’s up this week @NASA.