PI: Bill Borucki 1983: Kepler design began 1992: REJECTED by NASA Unsuitable detector technology 1994: REJECTED by NASA Too expensive 1996: REJECTED by NASA No proof of concept 1998: REJECTED by NASA Space too harsh for detectors 2000: ACCEPTED by NASA $550 million budget
Kepler is in Earth-trailing orbit: Porb = 372.5 days Kepler is currently >96 million miles from Earth Earth’s orbit Kepler’s orbit Sun Earth on March 5th Kepler, 1 yrafter launch Kepler, 4 yrslater Orbital direction