Kepler blasts off to hunt for Earth-like plants

Florida, March 7: An unmanned, $590 million mission of NASA blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to look for Earth-like planets in the universe which have the potential to sustain life.

The three-year mission to find Earth's twin is being jointly managed by JPL and NASA's Ames Research Center in the Bay Area.

NASA's Kepler spacecraft, atop a Delta II rocket, lifted off the launch pad at Cape Canaveral at 10:49 p.m. Eastern time and carried along with the widest-field telescope ever put in space. It is scheduled to pass over Antigua and Australia before venturing into orbit.

Dr Edward Weiler, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, said of the mission, "This is a historical mission; it's not just a science mission. I maintain that it really attacks some very basic human questions that have been part of our genetic code since that first man or woman looked up into the sky and asked the question: 'are we alone?'"

The spacecraft is equipped with a 15-foot-long telescope and a 55-inch mirror with the ability to scrutinize a wide star field. It has been specifically designed to find rocky worlds orbiting Sun-like stars. It will essentially hunt for planets that orbit stars and are partially covered with water. During its three year stint, the mission is likely to scrutinize 100,000 stars.

William Borucki, principal investigator for the mission, said, "We will monitor a wide range of stars, from small cool ones -- where planets must circle closely to stay warm -- to stars bigger and hotter than the sun, where planets must stay well clear to avoid being roasted.

“Everything about the mission is optimized to find Earth-size planets with the potential for life, to help us answer the question: Are Earths bountiful or is our planet unique?"

Highlighting the arduous task that the mission has to undertake, James Fanson, Kepler project manager at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said, “Trying to detect Jupiter-size planets crossing in front of their stars is like trying to measure the effect of a mosquito flying by a car's headlight. Finding Earth-sized planets is like trying to detect a very tiny flea in that same headlight."