NASA gearing up for the launch of “Kepler Mission”
Submitted by Justin Sorkin on Sat, 02/28/2009 - 10:41 Technology TNM NASA
(2nd coming laser light show projector)
The fiasco of the CO2 sniffing Orbiting Carbon Observatory could not damp the spirits of the U.S. space agency NASA. Yes, the space agency is now gearing up for Kepler Mission, which is named in honor of Johannes Kepler.
NASA, in partnership with the SETI Institute, is preparing for the launch of the Kepler Telescope that will be a mission to find Earth-like planets in the Milky Way.
While NASA is presently investigating about the causes of Orbiting Carbon Observatory failure, the launch of Kepler Mission has been delayed for one day. The Kepler Mission, which was originally scheduled for March 5 launch, will now be launched on Friday, March 6, from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
NASA reported that the Kepler Mission will have two launch windows that day, from 10:49 - 10:52 pm and 11:13 - 11:16 pm EST. Delta II rocket will be the launch vehicle of the Kepler Mission.
According to NASA, the Kepler mission is expected to last for about three years and it will survey more than 100,000 sun-like stars in its search for Earth-like planets in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. The mission could find more Earth sized planets; it could find more Sun like stars – sources of light and energy; it could find dozens of worlds like ours; however, NASA said, it may not find any "Earths" like ours.
NASA explained that the Kepler telescope is specially designed to discover the periodic dimming of stars caused by transiting planets. NASA said, “The telescope can register changes in brightness of only 20 parts per million.”
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California of NASA is credited for the development of spacecraft and the Kepler mission. The SETI Institute scientist, Jon Jenkins of the Center for the Study of Life in the Universe is a Co-investigator for the mission's signal processing work, while Dr. Jill Tarter, serves on the Science Working Group.
SETI Institute Director of Education, Edna DeVore, in partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, will lead the Education and Public Outreach program associated with the Kepler Mission, a project based at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.
The principal investigator William Borucki of Ames said, "The Kepler Mission will, for the first time, enable humans to search our galaxy for Earth-size or even smaller planets. 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?"
Scott Hubbard, Ames' Deputy Director for Research, said, "The Kepler mission represents a cornerstone in our effort to search for evidence of life in the universe, and will pave the way for future more complex space projects. I am very proud of the years of work invested by the Kepler team leading to this selection.”
NASA engineers, however, are taking every step cautiously, after the last week’s failure of OCO launch. NASA engineers stated that they want to make sure that there will not be any issues with Kepler's Delta II 7925-10L rocket. |
