Kepler planet hunter rockets into space

March 7, 2009 Kepler planet hunter rockets into space

Liftoff of the Delta II rocket carrying NASA's Kepler spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

(PhysOrg.com) -- 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. Kepler is designed to find the first Earth-size planets orbiting stars at distances where water could pool on the planet's surface. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.

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Modernmystic - Mar 07, 2009
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Finally we get a new NASA mission that might actually answer a question we don't already know the answer to.

Unless of course someone crossed measurement systems, or ground a mirror wrong, or something equally as stupid...
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Szkeptik - Mar 08, 2009
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Spotting Earth sized planets 3000 ly-s away...
Do we have some awesome toys or what? ;)
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Scrap - Mar 09, 2009
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Help me understand - why are we looking 600 ly away? That's a distance that is impossible for humans to travel, is impossible to communicate with on a human scale. Why are we not looking closer to home? Is it because we have already searched the star systems that are within a lifetime (say 40-100 ly away) of home?
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