Dec 18, 2008

Allard Beutel Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 allard beutel@nasa gov

Whitney Clavin Jet Propulsion Laboratory 818-354-4673 whitney clavin@jpl nasa gov

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

MEDIA ADVISORY: 2008-240

NASA'S KEPLER SPACECRAFT READY TO SHIP TO FLORIDA

PASADENA, 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

The mission, scheduled to launch on March 5, will seek to answer an age-old question -- are there other Earths in space?

"Kepler is ready to begin its journey to its launch site, and ultimately to space, where it will answer a question that has been pondered by humankind at least as long ago as the ancient Greeks," said James Fanson, the project manager for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif

Kepler will monitor more than 100,000 stars for signatures of planets of various sizes and orbital distances It has the ability to locate rocky planets like Earth, including those that lie in a star's "habitable zone," a region where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist 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 their frequency

"Kepler's mission is to determine whether Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of other stars are frequent or rare; whether life in our Milky Way galaxy is likely to be frequent or rare," said William Borucki, the Kepler science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif

Kepler is currently at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp in Boulder, Colo It passed all its environmental tests ensuring that it is prepared for the harsh trip to space It also passed what's called the "pre-ship review," meaning that it is ready to be shipped via convoy to Florida in early January Its first stop will be Astrotech in Titusville, Fla , where the spacecraft will be processed before being carried to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Kepler will launch atop a Delta II rocket

"An outstanding team of engineers overcame some difficult hurdles to achieve this considerable milestone," said Ball Aerospace Program Manager John Troeltzsch "The culmination of this effort will put a spectacular mission in orbit designed to increase our understanding of the cosmos "

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission In addition to being the home organization of the science principal investigator, NASA Ames Research Center is responsible for the ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis Kepler mission development is managed by JPL Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp is responsible for developing the Kepler flight system and supporting mission operations

More information about the Kepler mission is at http://www nasa gov/kepler More information about extrasolar planets and NASA's planet-finding program is at http://planetquest jpl nasa gov

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