![]() United Launch Alliance is conducting the launch for NASA. NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., is responsible for the launch of Kepler aboard a Delta II 7925-10L rocket. Kepler's Flight Readiness Review is on Monday, March 2. The March 6 target date still must be confirmed by the U.S Air Force, which manages the eastern launch range. Kepler's original March 5 target launch date was moved one day later to accommodate the additional time for analysis. Managers want to confirm there will not be similar issues with Kepler's Delta II. On Tuesday, a Taurus carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory failed to reach orbit. Kepler will survey more than 100,000 stars in our galaxy.Įngineers are reviewing all common hardware between the Delta II rocket carrying the Kepler telescope and the Taurus XL launch vehicle. The challenge for Kepler is to look at a large number of stars in order to statistically estimate the total number of Earth-size planets orbiting sun-like stars in the habitable zone. The vast majority of the approximately 300 planets known to orbit other stars are much larger than Earth, and none is believed to be habitable. Liquid water is considered essential for the existence of life as we know it. There are two launch windows, from 10:49 - 10:52 p.m. Launch of NASA's Kepler telescope is targeted for no earlier than Friday, March 6, from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA release NASA's Kepler Telescope to Launch Aboard Delta II Rocket EST March 5 from Space Launch Complex 17 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The liftoff of Kepler aboard a Delta II rocket is currently targeted for 10:48 p.m. If these Earth-size worlds do exist around stars like our sun, Kepler is expected to be the first to find them and the first to measure how common they are. Kepler is designed to survey more than 100,000 stars in our galaxy to determine the number of sun-like stars that have Earth-size and larger planets, including those that lie in a star's "habitable zone," a region where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist. Kepler will survey more than 100,000 stars in our galaxy.Īt the Hazardous Processing Facility at Astrotech in Titusville, Fla., workers position the Kepler spacecraft onto a Delta II third stage. The habitable zone is the region around a star where temperatures permit water to be liquid on a planet's surface. Kepler is a spaceborne telescope designed to search the nearby region of our galaxy for Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zone of stars like our sun. NASA release NASA's Kepler mission to find Earth-size planets Topic: NASA's Kepler to find Earth-size exoplanets Profile | register | preferences | faq | search NASA's Kepler to find Earth-size exoplanets NASA's Kepler to find Earth-size exoplanets - collectSPACE: Messages
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