The Kepler-16 system is home to the first confirmed
transiting circumbinary planet-- a planet that orbits two stars. Kepler-16b, is
not unlike Luke Skywalker's home planet of 'Tatooine' in the Star Wars universe.
However, Kepler-16b is cold, gaseous and not suitable for
life.
Image Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/R Hurt, T
Pyle
NASA's Kepler space telescope mission will be honored with the National Space
Club's preeminent award, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy, in March.
The National Space Club is recognizing Kepler for revolutionizing
astrophysics and exoplanet science by expanding the census of planets beyond our
solar system and fundamentally altering our understanding of our place in the
Milky Way galaxy. The award citation acknowledges the Kepler team's significant
contribution to U.S. leadership in the field of rocketry and astronautics.
"This is an outstanding achievement for the entire Kepler team," said John
Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington. "Kepler
continues to surprise and inspire us on a regular basis and I'm delighted to see
the team's pioneering work acknowledged with the Goddard Trophy."
The trophy will be presented at a 57th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial
Dinner March 7 in Washington. Previous winners of the Goddard Trophy include
NASA's Curiosity and Mars Science Laboratory team, James A. Van Allen and the
Apollo 11 astronaut crew.
Developed jointly by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.,
and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., Kepler was
launched in 2009. It is the first NASA mission to find Earth-size planets in or
near the habitable zone, the region in a planetary system where liquid water can
exist on the surface of an orbiting planet.
"Kepler's determination that most stars have planets and that Earth-size
planets are common provides impetus to future missions that will determine
whether many planets have atmospheres compatible with the possibility of life,"
said William Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at Ames. "The future science
enabled by the Kepler results will be one of the mission's greatest
legacies."
Borucki and the team continue to analyze four years of collected data.
Discoveries include more than 3,600 exoplanet candidates, of which 246 have been
confirmed as exoplanets. They expect hundreds, if not thousands, of new
discoveries contained within the data. This could include discovering
long-awaited Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars.
Ames Center Director S. Pete Worden praised Kepler as "a hallmark of Ames
ingenuity and humankind's collective spirit to advance the frontier." Worden
said, "We may come up with ideas no one thinks are possible, but the
collaboration of hundreds of scientists, engineers and managers from around the
world has taken us closer to answering one of the ultimate questions: Are we
alone?"
Jim Fanson, Kepler development phase project manager at JPL, commented on the
historical implications of the mission. "Kepler has revolutionized our
understanding of solar systems around other stars in the galaxy, and in so doing
has transformed our view of our own island home," Fanson said.
The National Space Club is a non-profit organization devoted to fostering
excellence in space activity through interaction between industry and government
and through a continuing program of educational support. A full list of 2014
award winners is online at:
Ames is responsible for the Kepler mission concept, ground system
development, mission operations and science data analysis. JPL managed Kepler
mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo.,
developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in
Boulder. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and
distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's 10th Discovery mission and was
funded by the agency's Science Mission Directorate.
NASA
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