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March
6, 2009: NASA's Kepler mission successfully launched
into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard
a United Launch Alliance Delta II at 10:49 p.m. EST, Friday.
Kepler is designed to find the first Earth-size planets orbiting
stars at distances where water could pool on the planet's
surface. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the
formation of life.
"It
was a stunning launch," said Kepler Project Manager James
Fanson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
"Our team is thrilled to be a part of something so meaningful
to the human race -- Kepler will help us understand if our
Earth is unique or if others like it are out there."
![](images/keplerlaunch/316406main_2009-1972_strip.jpg)
Above: Liftoff of the Delta II rocket carrying
NASA's Kepler spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
Engineers
acquired a signal from Kepler at 12:11 a.m. Saturday, after
it separated from its spent third-stage rocket and entered
its final sun-centered orbit, trailing 950 miles behind Earth.
The spacecraft is generating its own power from its solar
panels.
"Kepler
now has the perfect place to watch more than 100,000 stars
for signs of planets," said William Borucki, the mission's
science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center
at Moffett Field, Calif. Borucki has worked on the mission
for 17 years. "Everyone is very excited as our dream
becomes a reality. We are on the verge of learning if other
Earths are ubiquitous in the galaxy."
Engineers have begun to check Kepler to ensure it is working
properly, a process called "commissioning" that will
take about 60 days. In about a month or less, NASA will send
up commands for Kepler to eject its dust cover and make its
first measurements. After another month of calibrating Kepler's
single instrument, a wide-field charge-coupled device camera,
the telescope will begin to search for planets.
The first planets to roll out on the Kepler "assembly
line" are expected to be the portly "hot Jupiters"
-- gas giants that circle close and fast around their stars.
NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes will be able to
follow up with these planets and learn more about their atmospheres.
Neptune-size planets will most likely be found next, followed
by rocky ones as small as Earth. The true Earth analogs --
Earth-sized planets orbiting stars like our sun at distances
where surface water, and possibly life, could exist -- would
take at least three years to discover and confirm. Ground-based
telescopes also will contribute to the mission by verifying
some of the finds.
In the end, Kepler will give us our first look at the frequency
of Earth-size planets in our Milky Way galaxy, as well as
the frequency of Earth-size planets that could theoretically
be habitable.
"Even
if we find no planets like Earth, that by itself would be
profound. It would indicate that we are probably alone in
the galaxy," said Borucki.
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Editor: Dr.
Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
more
information |
Kepler
mission home page
Credits:
Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. Ames is the home organization
of the science principal investigator and is responsible
for the ground system development, mission operations
and science data analysis. JPL manages the Kepler mission
development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of
Boulder, Colo., is responsible for developing the Kepler
flight system and supporting mission operations. NASA's
Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center,
Fla., managed the launch service including payload integration
and certifying the Delta II launch vehicle for NASA's
use.
NASA's
Future: US
Space Exploration Policy |
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