Status of Kepler under current budget ?

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toymaker

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Does anybody know if Kepler will surivive the current budget cuts ? Will the mission be made or will the money be diverted to keep the shuttle alive ?
 
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qso1

Guest
Too early to tell if keeping the shuttle operating into 2010 will significantly impact Kepler.<br /><br />This is an excerpt from<br />http://www.spacedaily.com/news/nasa-05c.html <br /><br />For example, the launch date for the Kepler mission, designed to look for extrasolar planets and originally scheduled for launch in 2007, was postponed for at least a year due to budget trims. Its money in the 2006 budget, however, appears solid.<br />End excerpt.<br /><br />I would hope that one of the extrasolar planet research telescopes would survive. Kepler or TPF, we may not get both, especially if any unexpected advances in ground based extrasolar planet imaging techniques occur. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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alokmohan

Guest
Since President Bush gives priority to moon and mars,both costly projects we may not expect search for planets outside solar system.
 
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qso1

Guest
Not from NASA anyway, but I wouldn't bank too much on Bush vision coming to pass. When he's out of office, I suspect whoever gets in Democrat or Republican will not want to fund what is essentially Apollo 2.<br /><br />I'm hoping for one of the scopes to survive but if not, ground based instruments may surprise us before too long. Then there will be no stopping the effort to put telescopes in space to get better data on Earthlike worlds. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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thalion

Guest
IIRC, COROT will not be as sensitive as Kepler, and will not be a primarily planet-finding mission.
 
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toymaker

Guest
If you are interested:<br />http://www.eso.org/gen-fac/pubs/esaesowg/espwg_report.pdf<br /><br />This report by ESO analysis many projects till 2025 that will study extra-solar planets. <br />There also estimates towards prognosed detections of Kepler and Corot on page 38.<br />Interestingly they predict that :<br />Kepler: 530 habitable zone planets, of which 35 ‘Earths’<br /><br /> Another interesting thing there is the proposal of Observatory to be build in Antarctica.
 
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alokmohan

Guest
Is planet hunting worth the money and time?Most of findings are too far fetched .
 
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toymaker

Guest
Thank you for this interesting link, I already registered.
 
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erioladastra

Guest
While finding planets will be neat, I think it won't be the best science that comes out of this project (though just like Hubble Deep Fields or other pretty pictures - it will get more press). Staring at 10,000 stars for several years will blow open stellar astronomy. Much interesting science comes from studying stellar variability (Cepheids, spots, pulsations, binary eclipses...) and you will have a treasure trove. Almost enough to make me go back into research!
 
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