Let the Planet Hunt Begin

Media RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

Michael Mewhinney 650-604-3937
NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
michael.s.mewhinney@nasa.gov

Kepler Mission Status Report May 13, 2009

Let the Planet Hunt Begin

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has begun its search for other Earth-like worlds. The mission,
which launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 6, will spend the next three-and-a-
half years staring at more than 100,000 stars for telltale signs of planets. Kepler has the
unique ability to find planets as small as Earth that orbit sun-like stars at distances where
temperatures are right for possible lakes and oceans.

"Now the fun begins," said William Borucki, Kepler science principal investigator at
NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "We are all really excited to start
sorting through the data and discovering the planets."

Scientists and engineers have spent the last two months checking out and calibrating the
Kepler spacecraft. Data have been collected to characterize the imaging performance as
well as the noise level in the measurement electronics. The scientists have constructed the
list of targets for the start of the planet search, and this information has been loaded onto
the spacecraft.

"If Kepler got into a staring contest, it would win," said James Fanson, Kepler project
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The spacecraft is ready
to stare intently at the same stars for several years so that it can precisely measure the
slightest changes in their brightness caused by planets." Kepler will hunt for planets by
looking for periodic dips in the brightness of stars -- events that occur when orbiting
planets cross in front of their stars and partially block the light.

The mission's first finds are expected to be large, gas planets situated close to their stars.
Such discoveries could be announced as early as next year.

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
Calif., 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.

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/kepler and http://www.kepler.nasa.gov .

-end-
#2009-084

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