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Kepler Mission


Waspie_Dwarf

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Kepler Mission -
A search for habitable planets


Kepler

Kepler is a special purpose space mission in the NASA Headquarters Discovery Program for detecting terrestrial planets, that is, rocky and Earth-size around other stars.

NASA has selected the Kepler Mission, a project based at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., as one of the next two new NASA Discovery missions.

Scheduled for launch in 2008, the Kepler Mission will use a unique spaceborne telescope specifically designed to search for Earth-like planets around stars beyond our solar system.

"The Kepler Mission will, for the first time, enable humans to search our galaxy for Earth-size or even smaller planets," said principal investigator William Borucki of NASA Ames. "With this cutting-edge capability, Kepler may help us answer one of the most enduring questions humans have asked throughout history: are there others like us in the universe?"

To date, many extra-solar planets have been discovered. However, these are mostly gaseous-giant planets similar to Jupiter, which are probably composed of hydrogen and helium, for the most part, and unlikely to harbor life. None of the planet detection methods used so far has the capability of finding Earth-size planets - those that are 30 to 600 times less massive than Jupiter.

The Kepler Mission is different from previous ways of looking for planets; it will look for the 'transit' signature of planets. A transit occurs each time a planet crosses the line-of-sight between the planet's parent star that it is orbiting and the observer. When this happens, the planet blocks some of the light from its star, resulting in a periodic dimming. This periodic signature is used to detect the planet and to determine its size and its orbit.


Source: NASA/ARC - Research - Exploring the Universe
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NASA's Kepler Spacecraft Designed to Detect Earth-size Planets

NASA's new Kepler spacecraft will greatly expand the quest for planets orbiting stars - not just giant, Jupiter-size planets -- but smaller, Earth-size worlds that might well contain liquid water, and so could harbor life.

Kepler is a NASA 'Discovery' mission that scientists have designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to detect potentially hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near habitable zones. A habitable zone is the distance from a star where liquid water could exist on the surface of a planet orbiting that star.

"It's the most important endeavor NASA is undertaking, in my opinion," ventured William Borucki, a space scientist and Kepler's principal investigator who works at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, where the mission was conceived and where science operations will be conducted. "We are trying to find man's place in the universe. The first step in doing that is finding Earth-like planets. Ultimately, we'll travel to the stars to see who is there," Borucki predicted.

"Since we first proposed Kepler in 1994, scientists have detected more than 200 extra-solar planets," said astrophysicist David Koch of Ames, Kepler's deputy principal investigator. However, almost all of these are gas-giant planets, and the virtue of Kepler is that it is able to find Earth-size and smaller planets -- that is, planets more than 300 times smaller in mass than Jupiter, Koch observed.

Kepler will be the first space telescope specifically designed to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zones around distant stars. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in November 2008 on a Delta II rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Kepler will look for periodic dimming of stars, or transits, as clues that would reveal the presence of intervening planets along the craft's line of sight.

How did the search for planets beyond our solar system begin? Why did astronomers want to launch a telescope into space to look for 'extra-solar' planets? In the imagination of science fiction writers, the universe teems with planets inhabited by a variety of exotic creatures. But in reality, we did not detect any planets beyond our solar system until recently. Astronomers could not observe these mostly gas-giant planets orbiting stars, but instead used indirect methods to find those distant worlds.

Not many years ago, telescopes observed stars that wobble, a telltale sign that large, Jupiter-size or larger gas planets were orbiting the stars, according to astronomers. Observers then noticed that some of these stars dimmed, then brightened again regularly, providing further evidence that planets are orbiting those far-away suns as well and reducing observed starlight when the planets pass between their home stars and Earth.

Kepler sensors and researcher Looking for planets orbiting other stars is difficult with Earth-based telescopes that have to peer through Earth's atmosphere. The starlight is 'polluted' by the nocturnal lights cast by cities, and the smoke and smog of civilization and by other natural distortions created by our atmosphere. Even the Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits Earth, is limited because it is not designed to stare intently for years at just one small section of the Milky Way. To overcome these and other problems encountered by Earth-bound telescopes, astronomers suggested that a new telescope that can detect Earth-size and smaller planets in habitable zones be launched into space. This new telescope would be expressly designed to look for star-dimming 'transits.'

"(The idea for Kepler) started with a paper by Frank Rosenblatt in the late 1970s. He was a neurosurgeon. He wrote a paper and envisioned how one might use transits to find planets. I read this paper, and it inspired me," said Borucki.

linked-image

Above: CCD being checked at NASA Ames in a precision photometry lab.

+ View More Related Images

Kepler will include a lens, a primary mirror and a charge-coupled device (CCD) array for collecting light. The CCD array is similar, but bigger than, the CCDs that replace film in consumer, digital cameras.

"The Kepler focal plane is made up of 95 megapixels, unlike a digital home camera, which might be five megapixels," Koch explained. As of February 2007, the CCD photometer array was nearing completion, and engineers were planning for spacecraft assembly and testing at Ball Aerospace, Boulder, Colo. The new optics system on Kepler, including its mirror and telescope, will focus pinpoints of light from 100,000 Milky Way stars onto the light-sensitive (CCD) array, according to Koch.

After launch in 2008, Kepler will soar away from the Earth, and in a few days the spacecraft will be past the moon's orbit. Kepler's final orbit will be around the sun, trailing Earth.

linked-image

Above: Heliocentric Orbit for Kepler Mission

(http://kepler.nasa.gov/sci/design/orbit.html)

Scientists expect the spacecraft to drift slowly until it is about 46.5 million miles (75 million kilometers) behind the Earth in four years. Scientists designed the orbit to give the spacecraft a stable view of the 100,000 stars being examined and to keep Kepler's view of those stars from being blocked by the sun or moon. Researchers planned the Kepler mission to last four years with the potential to extend it an additional two years.

Kepler orbit "If you're thinking about the Earth traveling around the sun, Earth goes around once a year. So, you need to observe for at least three years, and preferably four years, to be more certain statistically that a planet has been spotted," Borucki explained. Scientists theorize that the smaller stars will yield useful data first because the planets will be closer to their suns and orbit them in less than an Earth year, according to Borucki.

Like a photographer's light meter, the CCD array will not capture actual images of planets, but instead will look for starlight that dims and brightens again on a regular timetable. This periodic variation of starlight may indicate that planets could orbit these stars. Planets would be passing between their stars and Earth, causing the starlight reaching the Kepler spacecraft to be weakened, once for each planet's 'yearly' orbit. Planets' years will vary in comparison to Earth years, depending on how far away from their home star they orbit, and how fast they orbit.

According to Koch, Kepler would look at the same field of view in space, a region along the Orion arm of the galaxy for at least four years. "We needed to find a region that is never blocked by the sun and has a high density of stars," Koch explained.

"Think of Kepler as a hundred-thousand channel photographic light meter," Koch continued. "We need to count lots of photons. A typical measurement is a billion photons of light per hour for each star that we measure. What we have to look for are changes of 100 parts per million or smaller," Koch observed. Photons are elementary particles that make up all forms of light and other kinds of radiation such as heat or radio waves.

The brightness change that would show the signature of an Earth-size transit across its star would last for two to 16 hours, according to Koch. "Kepler must process 95 million pixels every five seconds, and the spacecraft must measure the brightness of all 100,000 stars once every 30 minutes," he explained. A pixel is derived from two words, 'picture element,' which is the smallest unit or piece of a computer, television or similar image.

"The chances of detecting a planet in the habitable zone of a star are about a half of a percent. Therefore, tens of thousands of stars need to be monitored continuously (at least once every hour) in order to detect hundreds of planets," Koch said.

"We store the data on the spacecraft for a whole month, and we have 16 gigabytes of data storage on Kepler," Koch noted. Kepler will transmit its data to Earth every 30 days via NASA's Deep Space Network.

The network will carry the data to the mission operations center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. There are two kinds of data -- engineering data and science data. The center staff will use the engineering data to monitor the health of the spacecraft and its key component, the CCD photometer. The science data will travel to the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., where researchers will archive Kepler's raw science information.

Researchers in Baltimore will relay raw science data to the science operations center at Ames for analysis and interpretation. Computers will examine the data from the stars to locate any potential dimming caused by planetary transits.

Kepler scientists will be able to calculate the size of the planet by noting how much the brightness of the star drops in relation to how large the star is. Scientists will use the size of the planet's orbit and the temperature of the star to estimate the planet's temperature. The temperature will help scientists answer whether or not the planet is in the habitable zone.

Koch expects to derive information about the planets' orbits and sizes from the data the Kepler spacecraft will deliver. "The data will also show the frequency of planet formation for inner planets and the distribution of planetary sizes, orbital sizes and co-planetary effects of Jovian type planets," Koch said.

"The Kepler mission will perform an unbiased search for all orbital periods out to a 'martian orbit,’" Koch observed. He said the region around a star extending out to a martian orbit should be explored because models show that "molecular cloud collapse" can be expected to produce, on the average, four inner planets between the orbits of Mercury and Mars. “Two of these are approximately Earth-sized and two are smaller," Koch noted.

"If there are many planets around a star, we should know how many planets there are, how big and how far away from the star they are, and if they are in the habitable zone," Borucki observed. "That happens if all the planets are in the same orbital plane."

According to Borucki, scientists will find out how frequently Earth-size planets form around stars. "From that, one will know whether, potentially, life is widespread or rare," Borucki said.

Scientists hope the Kepler mission will detect Mars-size to Jupiter-size planets in an estimated 700 planetary systems, according to Koch. If Kepler detects hundreds of Earth-size planets on which liquid water could exist, the discovery would be an exciting and very important one, according to astronomers.

"We are in the early stages of looking for Earth-size planets," Borucki said. According to scientists, if Earth-size planets are detected, astronomers might be able to look at them with advanced telescopes not yet developed.

As many as 250 people are working on Kepler across the nation. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for management of the project for NASA Ames Research Center and ensuring the flight system is successfully delivered and performing in orbit. NASA Ames is managing the development of the ground system and will conduct scientific analysis. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. is developing the flight system (spacecraft and photometer) and participating in mission operations. Ames will manage flight operations after commissioning is completed. Commissioning is the period after launch when the spacecraft's systems and the photometer will be checked to ensure they are working properly and ready to begin routine science operations.

For more information about the Kepler mission, please visit:

http://kepler.nasa.gov/

For images related to this story, please visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/images/2007/kepler-comp.html

John Bluck

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

Phone: 650/604-5026

jbluck@mail.arc.nasa.gov

Source: NASA/ARC - Research

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  • 1 year later...

NASA To Hold Briefing About Upcoming Kepler Exoplanet Mission

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Feb. 19, at 1 p.m. EST, to discuss the upcoming Kepler mission. Kepler is the first spacecraft with the ability to find Earth-size planets orbiting stars like our sun in a zone where liquid water could exist. The televised briefing will take place in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. S.W., Washington.

Kepler is scheduled to launch March 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Participants are:

-- Jon Morse, director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters

-- William Borucki, principal investigator for Kepler science, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

-- Jim Fanson, Kepler project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

-- Debra Fischer, professor of Astronomy, San Francisco State University

Reporters also may ask questions from participating NASA locations or by telephone. To reserve a telephone line, contact J.D. Harrington by e-mail at j.d.harrington@nasa.gov.

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. Ames is responsible for the ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. JPL manages Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp of Boulder, Colo. is responsible for developing the Kepler flight system and supporting mission operations.

For NASA TV downlink information and streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

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NASA To Hold Briefing About Upcoming Kepler Exoplanet Mission

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Feb. 19, at 1 p.m. EST, to discuss the upcoming Kepler mission. Kepler is the first spacecraft with the ability to find Earth-size planets orbiting stars like our sun in a zone where liquid water could exist. The televised briefing will take place in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. S.W., Washington.

Kepler is scheduled to launch March 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Participants are:

-- Jon Morse, director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters

-- William Borucki, principal investigator for Kepler science, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

-- Jim Fanson, Kepler project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

-- Debra Fischer, professor of Astronomy, San Francisco State University

Reporters also may ask questions from participating NASA locations or by telephone. To reserve a telephone line, contact J.D. Harrington by e-mail at j.d.harrington@nasa.gov.

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. Ames is responsible for the ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. JPL manages Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp of Boulder, Colo. is responsible for developing the Kepler flight system and supporting mission operations.

For NASA TV downlink information and streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

Source/Nasa link

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/feb/H...024_Kepler.html

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nice one, Be sure to bump this post nearer the date of the media briefing.

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Thanks for posting that info TFF, it will certainly be interesting (and a bit exciting) to see what information comes back from the Kepler. I know it will be something I will keep an eye on. :tu:

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Thanks for posting that info TFF, it will certainly be interesting (and a bit exciting) to see what information comes back from the Kepler. I know it will be something I will keep an eye on. :tu:

Hi Slave2fate;

Your welcome, Having sudied space and astronomy for 30+ years we are finally getting to where we can extend out and find these exoplanets and I for one am very exited about it, I will be watching the Nasa briefing when it comes on nasa chanel february 19th at 1 pm EST to hear all about this magnificant and historic mission and what it will ensue during its lifespan, Have you ever noticed my username? Thats because its true, Space will eventually be the final frontier,

Regards;

TFF

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nice one, Be sure to bump this post nearer the date of the media briefing.

Hi Stevewinn;

Yes I certianly will bump this thread back to the top the night before, I am very exited about this mission and eventually they will find an earth sized planet in the goldilocks zone from a star, Right now I only wish I was younger simply to stay up to date with this mission, Things go so fast as we age,

Regards;

TFF

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Hi Stevewinn;

Yes I certianly will bump this thread back to the top the night before, I am very exited about this mission and eventually they will find an earth sized planet in the goldilocks zone from a star, Right now I only wish I was younger simply to stay up to date with this mission, Things go so fast as we age,

Regards;

TFF

I'm excited as well. How long do you reckon we'll wait before the craft is fully operational? it launches on the 5th of March.

Seeing that the Kepler Spacecraft will be able to survey 100,000 stars the odds are in our favour to find an earth like planet in the Glodilocks zone. with every mission my anticipation rises, i get the feeling we;re on the verge of a great discovery

Edited by stevewinn
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with every mission my anticipation rises, i get the feeling we;re on the verge of a great discovery

You feel it too huh? :D

I think it is an exciting time for space exploration, with a lot of answers (and a lot of new questions, to be honest) to be had. Personally I can't wait to see what the next 10-20 years brings. :tu:

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For those interested,,

February 19th at 1:00 pm EST the Nasa chanel will hold a breifing on the Kepler Mission, I feel this will be one important mission for finding earthlike planets,

Also for anyone interested here in this link you can read up on the exoplanets already discovered to date,

CURRENT PLANET COUNT: 340

288 - stars with planets:

Earthlike planets: 0

Nasa Planet Quest;

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/

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For those interested,,

February 19th at 1:00 pm EST the Nasa chanel will hold a breifing on the Kepler Mission, I feel this will be one important mission for finding earthlike planets,

Also for anyone interested here in this link you can read up on the exoplanets already discovered to date,

CURRENT PLANET COUNT: 340

288 - stars with planets:

Earthlike planets: 0

Nasa Planet Quest;

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/

well done for remembering to remind us. so 1pm EST time that's 6pm GMT?

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Bump:

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Bump:

12;45 here Steve, enjoy;)

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Were off an running.

Just finished watching the briefing. This mission is going to be great. once they've collaborated the craft, we're going to be able to see all kinds of planets.

I liked the question. What happens if you find a mirror image of Earth. Took the panel by surprise i thought. The younger members on the panel seemed to be jubilant about the possibility and open to the public. The older gentleman i thought was going to say "cover up" but i guess he was just erring on the side of caution.

Edited by stevewinn
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Were off an running.

Just finished watching the briefing. This mission is going to be great. once they've collaborated the craft, we're going to be able to see all kinds of planets.

I liked the question. What happens if you find a mirror image of Earth. Took the panel by surprise i thought. The younger members on the panel seemed to be jubilant about the possibility and open to the public. The older gentleman i thought was going to say "cover up" but i guess he was just erring on the side of caution.

I could not believe the way this went for me, <_< my sister inlaw showed up and I had to go help out with some of their stuff so I missed most of it :hmm: , Did they say how long it will take to get it up and running? I did catch the mirror size and pixels stuff but other than that im lost, :lol:

oh well,

TFF

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I could not believe the way this went for me, <_< my sister inlaw showed up and I had to go help out with some of their stuff so I missed most of it :hmm: , Did they say how long it will take to get it up and running? I did catch the mirror size and pixels stuff but other than that im lost, :lol:

oh well,

TFF

The calibration will take about 6 months. which is pretty quick.

Edited by stevewinn
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The calibration will take about 6 months. which is pretty quick.

:tu: Thanks Steve;

I have the website anyways so ill read up on it once they get it online,,

Cheers:)

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:tu: Thanks Steve;

I have the website anyways so ill read up on it once they get it online,,

Cheers:)

Has you might have seen mate the second half was a question and answer session. the First 30 mins told you everything so if you seen upto that point then your more or less seen everything that was worth seeing.

Edited by stevewinn
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Has you might have seen mate the second half was a question and answer session. the First 30 mins told you everything so if you seen upto that point then your more or less seen everything that was worth seeing.

Thats right where I came back and it was in the question part, Its ok tho, Plenty of time to read up on it, I did however catch a minute or so about the search for earth like worlds and how they intended not to say anything until they was certian about it, Thats a good thing too, Cant wait to see some results from this mission,

Appreciate your time Steve:)

Regards;

Edit to add that Nasa chanel usually replays those things three four times any whoots Right?

Edited by thefinalfrontier
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Update on the spacecraft ;

NASA's Kepler Mission Ready for Launch,

NASA's Kepler spacecraft is ready to be moved to the launch pad today and will blast off within weeks, with a mission to address an age-old question: Are we alone?

Source/full story

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/02/19/na...ady-for-launch/

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Here is the Kepler story that aired on 2-19-09

NASA's Kepler Mission to Seek Other Earths WASHINGTON -- NASA's Kepler spacecraft is ready to be moved to the launch pad today and will soon begin a journey to search for worlds that could potentially host life.

Kepler is scheduled to blast into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a Delta II rocket on March 5 at 10:48 p.m. EST. It is the first mission with the ability to find planets like Earth -- rocky planets that orbit sun-like stars in a warm zone where liquid water could be maintained on the surface. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.

"Kepler is a critical component in NASA's broader efforts to ultimately find and study planets where Earth-like conditions may be present," said Jon Morse, the Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The planetary census Kepler takes will be very important for understanding the frequency of Earth-size planets in our galaxy and planning future missions that directly detect and characterize such worlds around nearby stars."

The mission will spend three and a half years surveying more than 100,000 sun-like stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. It is expected to find hundreds of planets the size of Earth and larger at various distances from their stars. If Earth-size planets are common in the habitable zone, Kepler could find dozens; if those planets are rare, Kepler might find none.

In the end, the mission will be our first step toward answering a question posed by the ancient Greeks: are there other worlds like ours or are we alone?

"Finding that most stars have Earths implies that the conditions that support the development of life could be common throughout our galaxy," said William Borucki, Kepler's science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. "Finding few or no Earths indicates that we might be alone."

The Kepler telescope is specially designed to detect the periodic dimming of stars that planets cause as they pass by. Some star systems are oriented in such a way that their planets cross in front of their stars, as seen from our Earthly point of view. As the planets pass by, they cause their stars' light to slightly dim, or wink.

More here;

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/feb/H...035_Kepler.html

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I think they should focus now on how to get funding for that exploration. With the economic crisis still hurting people's banks, I think they should at least settle some practicality first.

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