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Kepler Media Resources
News and Features
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, Nov. 23, 2009
Kepler experienced a safe mode event on Nov. 18, 2009.
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Science Magazines Honor Cutting-Edge NASA Programs
NASA's revolutionary planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has been honored with the 2009 Best of What's New Grand Award from Popular Science Magazine and a 2009 Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics Magazine.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, Nov. 5, 2009
Kepler completed another science data download over October 18-19.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, Oct. 14, 2009
It has now been five months since Kepler science operations began.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, Sept. 23, 2009
Kepler is approximately 18 million kilometers (11 million miles) from Earth, and continuing its drift-away orbit. All systems are operating normally. Last week, the Kepler project team completed another download of science data, and, in conjunction, a quarterly roll of the spacecraft.
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Kepler and the Search for Life in Our Galaxy
We are just beginning to learn about worlds beyond our solar system, so we really don't have a good idea of what the chances are for advanced life in our Galaxy. That's where the Kepler mission comes in.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, Sept. 8, 2009
As it nears 11,000,000 miles distance from Earth, the Kepler spacecraft continues to scan the Milky Way galaxy, near the Cygnus constellation, for Earth-sized planets.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, August 21, 2009
Kepler is more than 10,000,000 miles from Earth and continues in its drift away, heliocentric orbit.
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NASA's Kepler Spies Changing Phases on a Distant World
NASA's new exoplanet-hunting Kepler space telescope has detected the atmosphere of a known giant gas planet, demonstrating the telescope's extraordinary scientific capabilities.
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NASA To Hold Briefing about Kepler's Early Science Results
NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 11 a.m. PDT, to discuss early science results of the Kepler mission. Kepler is the first spacecraft with the ability to find Earth-size planets orbiting stars like our sun in a zone where liquid water could exist.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, July 23, 2009
Kepler remains in its science attitude and Earth-trailing, helio-centric orbit.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, July 7, 2009
On July 4, Kepler passed a point 12,500,000 kilometers (7,767,140 miles) from Earth.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, June 19, 2009
Kepler is more than 10,700,000 kilometers (about 6,600,00 miles) from Earth and continues its planned drift-away orbit.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, June 9, 2009
Kepler is nearing 10 million kilometers from Earth, and will pass that mark on June 12.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, May 29, 2009
Kepler remains safe and stable in its "drift-away" heliocentric orbit.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, May 14, 2009
Following a successful readiness review, Kepler began its search for planets around other stars on May 12, 2009.
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Kepler Mission Begins Search
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. 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.
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Let the Planet Hunt Begin
NASA's Kepler spacecraft has begun its search for other Earth-like worlds.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, May 7, 2009
Kepler is now more than six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) from Earth.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, May 1, 2009
Kepler's calibration data collection is drawing to a close.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, April 23, 2009
The Kepler telescope's focus has been successfully optimized.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, April 20, 2009
The Kepler science team has decided that further refinement of the telescope's focus would significantly improve the mission's science return.
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Mission Manager Update, April 17, 2009
Kepler's "first light" image taken the day after cover release is now available to the public.
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Kepler Captures First Views of Planet-Hunting Territory
NASA's Kepler mission has taken its first images of the star-rich sky where it will soon begin hunting for planets like Earth.
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Mission Manager Update, April 13, 2009
Up until a few days ago, NASA's Deep Space Network stations have had their Ka-band radio receivers cross polarized to the spacecraft radio transmitter.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, April 8, 2009
The dust cover was successfully jettisoned from the front of the telescope last evening at about 7:18 p.m. PDT.
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Dust Cover Jettisoned From NASA's Kepler Telescope
Engineers have successfully ejected the dust cover from NASA's Kepler telescope, a spaceborne mission soon to begin searching for worlds like Earth.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, April 7, 2009
All of the technical and programmatic reviews leading to the release of the dust cover from Kepler are now successfully completed.
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Kepler Dust Cover Poised for Removal
The dust cover on NASA's Kepler spacecraft is scheduled to be ejected tonight, no earlier than 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time, with a backup opportunity tomorrow evening.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, April 2, 2009
Flight controllers have transitioned Kepler out of its low-activity safe mode and have powered on its main instrument, the photometer.
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NASA Joins 'Around the World in 80 Telescopes'
A collection of NASA missions will be involved in a live event Friday, April 3, that will allow the public to get an inside look at how these missions are run.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, April 2, 2009
Flight controllers have transitioned Kepler out of its low-activity safe mode and have powered on its main instrument, the photometer.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, March 30, 2009
Engineers have determined the cause of Kepler's entry into limited safe mode last week, and are preparing to return the spacecraft to normal operations.
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Kepler Mission Manager Update, March 26, 2009
Scientists have analyzed "dark" calibration data taken by Kepler with its dust cover on, and have concluded that the telescope's focal-plane array, the area where light is focused, is behaving as expected.
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Mission Manager Update, March 21, 2009
Kepler is now 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth.
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Mission Manager Update, March 18, 2009
Engineers are continuing the process of calibrating Kepler's photometer in the dark, with its dust cover on.
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Mission Manager Update, March 16, 2009
Kepler is now more than 1 million kilometers (620,000 miles) from Earth, drifting away at the rate of about 1 kilometer per second.
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Kepler Mission Manager Report - Mar. 12, 2009
Kepler's science instrument, called a photometer, was powered on by flight controllers and will be calibrated over the next several weeks.
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Kepler Mission Manager Report - Mar. 11, 2009
After Kepler vaulted into the heavens on a column of thunder Friday March 6, it quickly sent its first communications to Earth via NASA's Deep Space Network.
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NASA's Kepler Mission Rockets to Space in Search of Other Earths
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.
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Five Things About Kepler
Here are some quick facts about the Kepler mission, scheduled to launch March 6, 2009.
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NASA's Kepler Mission Set For Launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Kepler mission to seek other Earth-like planets is undergoing final preparations for liftoff Friday, March 6, from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft launch aboard a Delta II rocket has two windows of opportunity Friday, from 10:49 to 10:52 p.m. and 11:13 to 11:16 p.m. EST.
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NASA Ames Invites News Media for Live Broadcast of Kepler Launch
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif., -- News media and the public are invited to observe the live televised broadcast of the countdown and launch of the Kepler mission on Friday, March 6, 2009 in the Exploration Center at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
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Long Journey to Liftoff
William Borucki has been working on the ideas behind the Kepler mission for over two decades.
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NASA'S Kepler Telescope to Launch Aboard Delta II Rocket
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- 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. There are two launch windows, from 10:49 - 10:52 p.m. and 11:13 - 11:16 p.m. EST.
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Milwaukee Native Helps NASA Search for Earth-Size Planets
David Koch, the deputy principal investigator for the NASA Kepler Mission, has spent his life building things.
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NASA Tradition Continues from Generation to Generation
In the 1960s, two employees from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) met on a blind date. The couple eventually married and had twin identical boys one of whom has grown up to be the lead for the data analysis group of NASA's Kepler Mission - Jon Jenkins of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
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NASA's Kepler Mission to Seek Other Earths
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA's Kepler spacecraft is now at the launch pad and will soon begin a journey to search for worlds that could potentially host life.
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NASA Kepler Launch International Media Accreditation Ends Feb. 5
The launch of NASA's Kepler telescope, the first mission capable of finding Earth-size planets around other stars, is scheduled for March 5 at 7:48 p.m. Pacific Time (10:48 p.m. Eastern time), from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
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NASA's Kepler Spacecraft Ready to Ship to Florida
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – Engineers are getting ready to pack NASA's Kepler spacecraft into a container and ship it off to its launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
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NASA's Kepler Spacecraft Baked and Ready for More Tests
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission, scheduled to launch in 2009, has survived an extreme temperature test.
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NASA Ames Conducts Tests of Kepler Mission Image Detectors
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – Sensitive detectors that may help find habitable planets orbiting distant stars as part of NASA’s Kepler Mission are undergoing tests at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.