1 00:00:00,100 --> 00:00:01,100 Music 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:08,613 Life on other planets -- the idea has fascinated man for ages. 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:10,523 The discovery of Earth-like planets with life-sustaining water and air may come one step closer 4 00:00:16,850 --> 00:00:18,850 through NASA's Kepler mission. 5 00:00:18,970 --> 00:00:20,270 When the Kepler spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida 6 00:00:23,270 --> 00:00:28,603 aboard a Delta II rocket, it begins a quest in our part of the Milky Way galaxy. 7 00:00:28,860 --> 00:00:34,460 The spacecraft will orbit our sun as it focuses on 100,000 stars that may be orbited 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,200 by their own inhabitable planets. 9 00:00:37,930 --> 00:00:44,130 From NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, join us now as we focus on this exciting mission 10 00:00:44,180 --> 00:00:45,780 and prepare for liftoff! 11 00:00:48,780 --> 00:00:56,446 Hi! Thanks for joining us. I'm your host Tiffany Nail. I'm here at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. 12 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:57,770 This area is known as the Rocket Garden. It's dedicated to the massive giants that have soared into space 13 00:01:02,590 --> 00:01:08,256 over the years. Here the public can get an up-close look at these incredible rockets. 14 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:13,960 This place can be especially inspiring to students. But even if they can't visit, 15 00:01:14,210 --> 00:01:14,820 students from across the country can learn more about NASA through our Digital Learning Network. 16 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:21,363 So we decided to give a group of those students a chance to ask the questions for today's program. 17 00:01:25,170 --> 00:01:25,360 Here's Damon Talley from the Digital Learning Network to introduce you to the class. 18 00:01:30,580 --> 00:01:31,156 Thanks Tiffany. Hello, and welcome to the Digital Learning Network. 19 00:01:34,470 --> 00:01:36,630 We're able to connect with classrooms all across the country, and today we have a special link up with 20 00:01:39,110 --> 00:01:40,256 Sharon Bains' seventh-grade classroom at Pine Ridge Middle School in Naples, Florida. 21 00:01:43,630 --> 00:01:44,630 Hello everyone! 22 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:51,480 Morning! Good morning Mr. Talley and NASA. We're certainly happy to be with you this morning. 23 00:01:52,050 --> 00:01:52,446 We have some great questions for you. 24 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:54,806 Great! Well, we'll get to those questions in just a few minutes. First, let's learn more about Kepler from 25 00:02:00,500 --> 00:02:00,546 Kepler Mission Scientist Dr. David Koch, who stopped by the NASA Direct Studio recently. 26 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:06,650 The Kepler mission is specifically designed to look for Earth-like planets going around other stars 27 00:02:12,590 --> 00:02:16,923 stars like our sun. Kepler is designed to find things like Earth. 28 00:02:18,450 --> 00:02:22,450 That you can't do from the ground you have to go into space. 29 00:02:22,530 --> 00:02:29,263 The Kepler mission consists of just one instrument. This is not a facility for the general community. 30 00:02:31,010 --> 00:02:37,343 This is designed to do just one thing and that is to look for planets going around other stars. 31 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:45,173 And the way that we do that is with an instrument we call a photometer. It's a general purpose kind of telescope, 32 00:02:45,230 --> 00:02:51,630 but a special kind of telescope it's called a Schmidt design. It has a very large field of view. 33 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:52,480 We need to look at a lot of stars. We're going to look at over a 100,000 stars at once with this mission. 34 00:02:59,000 --> 00:02:59,793 Our telescope field of view is about equal to taking your hand at arm's length, hold it up to the sky 35 00:03:04,940 --> 00:03:10,873 also equal to about two dips from the big dipper. With that, we can now see lots of stars 36 00:03:11,180 --> 00:03:14,646 and then we can look for planets around those stars. 37 00:03:17,070 --> 00:03:25,536 The way Kepler works is it looks for transits that is a planet passing in front of the star and blocking a little bit of light. 38 00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:33,273 As we look at that star, we don't see the planet, we just see the starlight dim for a few hours 39 00:03:34,530 --> 00:03:41,930 as the planet goes in front. One transit, though, isn't enough. What you need is to see a sequence of transits. 40 00:03:42,260 --> 00:03:49,793 The first one and the second one give you a period, but only if you see that third one at exactly the right time, 41 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:58,440 do you know you have a planet orbiting that star. From the period crossing the starlight, crossing the face of the star, 42 00:04:01,980 --> 00:04:08,780 you can get the distance the planet is from the star using Kepler's third law we named it after Kepler 43 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,760 the man who invented, who discovered the laws of planetary motion. 44 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:21,200 We are going to operate this mission initially for three and a half years that’s a baseline mission. 45 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:24,473 It's been designed to operate for at least six years. The reason we have to look for three and a half years 46 00:04:28,660 --> 00:04:31,593 is we're looking for a sequence of transits. 47 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:40,493 To get the data down, we have an antenna on the side of the spacecraft that has to get pointed to Earth. 48 00:04:41,340 --> 00:04:48,873 So once a month, we have to point away from looking at our star field and point that antenna so it beams the data 49 00:04:50,380 --> 00:04:53,846 down to Earth. So once a month, we'll get that data. 50 00:04:55,320 --> 00:05:01,586 Boy, what we get out of this mission is going to open our eyes, maybe change the way we think. 51 00:05:01,620 --> 00:05:08,020 We're going to look at 100,000 stars. We expect to find hundreds of planets. What if we get one? 52 00:05:08,570 --> 00:05:15,303 What if we get zero? That'll be an eye opener, too. We'd have to think, are we alone? Is life unique? 53 00:05:17,140 --> 00:05:17,613 Are there no other beings? We won't know that until we get an answer from this, to ask the next question about life, 54 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:30,066 but at least we'll have the answer, are there planets like Earth somewhere out there? 55 00:05:30,410 --> 00:05:30,786 Thanks Dr. Koch. Before the Kepler spacecraft can start its mission, it has to get into space. 56 00:05:36,300 --> 00:05:38,153 Let's take some questions now for our NASA Rocket Scientist Armando Piloto, who will also answer them from our 57 00:05:41,780 --> 00:05:44,380 NASA Direct Studio. Who has a question? 58 00:05:46,180 --> 00:05:50,713 Hi. My name is Shelia. Did you always want to be a rocket scientist? 59 00:05:54,130 --> 00:06:00,596 Hi Shelia! Actually as a kid growing up, I dreamed of launching home runs in a baseball field and 60 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:05,720 not necessarily launching rockets. Playing baseball is what I wanted to do. 61 00:06:06,340 --> 00:06:11,740 But obviously, I have a great job here at NASA. I am very dedicated to what I do. 62 00:06:12,530 --> 00:06:18,730 And you know, to be able to be part of the Kepler mission and to be able to work with rockets 63 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:26,066 is a very rewarding and phenomenal experience. And I'm definitely looking forward to the successful launch 64 00:06:26,590 --> 00:06:31,856 of Kepler. So to answer your question, no, but I definitely love what I do now. 65 00:06:32,050 --> 00:06:35,983 Hi. My name is Otto. Where do you sit during the countdown? 66 00:06:36,170 --> 00:06:43,703 Hey Otto! During launch day, during terminal count, I sit in the Mission Director's Center together with the rest 67 00:06:44,710 --> 00:06:45,656 of the NASA management and ULA management team. The Mission Director's Center is actually located 68 00:06:50,230 --> 00:06:56,230 at approximately two to three miles away from the launch site. And the MDC, as we call it, 69 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:03,960 is equipped with all kinds of data displays, video screens and communication networks to enable the 70 00:07:05,940 --> 00:07:13,340 management team to determine the health of the spacecraft, the health of the launch vehicle and ensure that all 71 00:07:13,970 --> 00:07:14,043 systems are ready to proceed with launch. 72 00:07:16,630 --> 00:07:22,096 Hi. My name is Lawton. I was just wondering, what kind of fuel does a rocket burn? 73 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:29,026 That's a great question. The fuel that we use on the rocket is dependent on what rocket we're using. 74 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:36,906 For Kepler, we’ll be launching aboard a Delta II vehicle, and the first stage of the Delta II burns a combination of 75 00:07:39,150 --> 00:07:43,683 liquid oxygen and RP1. RP1 is essentially a highly refined kerosene. 76 00:07:47,950 --> 00:07:48,480 Hi. My name is Andres. How do you know what kind of rocket to use? 77 00:07:51,820 --> 00:07:59,220 OK. Determining what kind of rocket to use is based on a number of different factors, including cost, schedule, 78 00:08:01,090 --> 00:08:08,890 technical requirements and risk. But primarily there are two main factors that we consider the size of the spacecraft 79 00:08:13,420 --> 00:08:17,753 and also the orbit where the spacecraft needs to be delivered to. 80 00:08:18,350 --> 00:08:18,403 Hi. I'm Kelly. What should I study if I want to become a rocket scientist? 81 00:08:23,230 --> 00:08:30,696 Hi Kelly! I'll tell you what I study. I have a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree 82 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:34,060 in engineering management. But my advice to you and to the rest of the kids, that if you want to work with rockets 83 00:08:41,380 --> 00:08:47,846 is to first of all, do good at math and science so that you can develop strong analytical skills. 84 00:08:48,310 --> 00:08:54,910 I would also encourage you to take classes in speech and debate so that you can also develop strong 85 00:08:57,970 --> 00:09:05,370 communication skills. I think it's also very important that you get involved with team projects and team sports 86 00:09:06,690 --> 00:09:14,823 so that you can learn to interact in a team environment. And then once in college, I think it's important to earn a degree 87 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:23,813 in either physics, science, engineering or math. I think the combination of strong analytical and communication skills, 88 00:09:27,220 --> 00:09:34,753 combined with one of those degrees will open a lot of opportunities for you, including opportunities to work here 89 00:09:36,170 --> 00:09:39,436 at the Kennedy Space Center working with rockets. 90 00:09:40,290 --> 00:09:40,486 Well that's all we have time for. Thanks Ms. Bains and your students for all of your help today. 91 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:47,560 Goodbye. 92 00:09:50,470 --> 00:09:52,870 Now back to your host, Tiffany Nail. 93 00:09:53,230 --> 00:09:54,473 Thanks Damon, and thanks to all our guests for helping us learn more about this exciting mission of Kepler. 94 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:04,920 You can follow the countdown on NASA TV and on our live launch blog at nasa.gov/kepler.