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The First Propposment
NASA HQ propposed a new line of mission to find planets outide of our solar system. This concept was named FRESIP to describe its mission(FRequency of Earth-Size Inner Planets). Unfortunatly, this was rejected. -
The Second Proposition:Discovery-Class Mission
The FRESIP missions were once again proposed. The chnge was that CCD detectors were used instead of the silicon detectors. This made it too similar to the Hubble Space Telescope and made it too expensive for a discovery-class mission. So, it was rejected. -
Second Chance for Launch Mission
Mission cost could be lessened if photometer was placed in a solar orbit rather than a LaGrange orbit because of the reduction of space propulsion systems needed to stay in a LaGrange orbit. This mission named changed to Kepler, after the famous German astronomer. The proposal was rejected because no one had every demonstrated that the simultaneous, automated photometry of thousands of stars could be done. -
Photometer Designed an Built
Arrangements were made at Lick Observatory to refurbish the Crocker Dome. The plans were to install a radio link between the dome and a receiving station at Ames. Software was written to control the dome and photometer and to analyze the data. -
Data and Third Chance
Data was recieved that Kepler would be able to see about 6,000 stars in a single field-of-view. The review panel acknowledged that science was excellent; that the detectors could provide the necessary performance, and that automated photometry could be done on thousands of stars simultaneously. The proposal was rejected because there was no proof that a photometer with the precision required to find Earth-size planets could be developed that would operate satisfactorily on orbit with the types -
Kepler Test Bed
The Kepler test bed was designed, built, and tested. The results were good. A report was written and communicated to the review panel chartered by HQ to verify the test bed performance. -
Fourth Opurtunity
The fourth opportunity to propose for a Discovery-class mission was announced. Kepler proposed for the fifth time. Kepler was one of three proposals selected from a total of 26 that was allowed to compete by writing a Concept Study Report and demonstrating readiness to proceed. -
Selected
Kepler is selected as Discovery mission #10. NASA's Discovery Program is a series of lower-cost, highly-focused American scientific space missions that are exploring the Solar System. The first discovery mission was NEAR. -
Launch
It was launched at cape canavrial at 10;50 pm. The Launch Vehicle was United Launch Alliance Delta II 7925.The countdown proceeded smoothly throughout the day, and a perfect weather forecast held true, allowing an on-time liftoff on the first attempt. -
First confirmed planet
The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets.
