1 00:00:00,100 --> 00:00:04,480 \h Music 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:10,520 \h Life on other planets -- the idea has fascinated man for ages. 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:16,850 \h The discovery of Earth-like planets with life-sustaining water and air may come one step closer 4 00:00:16,850 --> 00:00:18,970 \h through NASA's Kepler mission. 5 00:00:18,970 --> 00:00:23,270 \h When the Kepler spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida 6 00:00:23,270 --> 00:00:28,860 \h aboard a Delta II rocket, it begins a quest in our part of the Milky Way galaxy. 7 00:00:28,860 --> 00:00:35,000 \h The spacecraft will orbit our sun as it focuses on 100,000 stars that may be orbited 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,930 \h by their own inhabitable planets. 9 00:00:37,930 --> 00:00:44,180 \h From NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, join us now as we focus on this exciting mission 10 00:00:44,180 --> 00:00:48,780 \h and prepare for liftoff! 11 00:00:48,780 --> 00:00:56,680 \h 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 --> 00:01:02,590 \h 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 --> 00:01:08,560 \h over the years. Here the public can get an up-close look at these incredible rockets. 14 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:14,210 \h This place can be especially inspiring to students. But even if they can't visit, 15 00:01:14,210 --> 00:01:20,000 \h students from across the country can learn more about NASA through our Digital Learning Network. 16 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,170 \h 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 --> 00:01:30,580 \h Here's Damon Talley from the Digital Learning Network to introduce you to the class. 18 00:01:30,580 --> 00:01:34,470 \h Thanks Tiffany. Hello, and welcome to the Digital Learning Network. 19 00:01:34,470 --> 00:01:39,110 \h 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 --> 00:01:43,630 \h Sharon Bains' seventh-grade classroom at Pine Ridge Middle School in Naples, Florida. 21 00:01:43,630 --> 00:01:45,280 \h Hello everyone! 22 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:52,050 \h Morning! Good morning Mr. Talley and NASA. We're certainly happy to be with you this morning. 23 00:01:52,050 --> 00:01:54,120 \h We have some great questions for you. 24 00:01:54,120 --> 00:02:00,500 \h 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 --> 00:02:06,320 \h Kepler Mission Scientist Dr. David Koch, who stopped by the NASA Direct Studio recently. 26 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:12,590 \h The Kepler mission is specifically designed to look for Earth-like planets going around other stars 27 00:02:12,590 --> 00:02:18,450 \h stars like our sun. Kepler is designed to find things like Earth. 28 00:02:18,450 --> 00:02:22,530 \h That you can't do from the ground you have to go into space. 29 00:02:22,530 --> 00:02:31,010 \h The Kepler mission consists of just one instrument. This is not a facility for the general community. 30 00:02:31,010 --> 00:02:37,640 \h This is designed to do just one thing and that is to look for planets going around other stars. 31 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:45,230 \h 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 --> 00:02:52,240 \h 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 --> 00:02:59,000 \h 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 --> 00:03:04,940 \h 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 --> 00:03:11,180 \h also equal to about two dips from the big dipper. With that, we can now see lots of stars 36 00:03:11,180 --> 00:03:17,070 \h and then we can look for planets around those stars. 37 00:03:17,070 --> 00:03:26,940 \h 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 --> 00:03:34,530 \h 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 --> 00:03:42,260 \h 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 --> 00:03:50,440 \h 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 --> 00:04:01,980 \h 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 --> 00:04:09,360 \h 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 --> 00:04:14,400 \h the man who invented, who discovered the laws of planetary motion. 44 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:23,000 \h We are going to operate this mission initially for three and a half years that’s a baseline mission. 45 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:28,660 \h 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 --> 00:04:33,560 \h is we're looking for a sequence of transits. 47 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:41,340 \h 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 --> 00:04:50,380 \h 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 --> 00:04:55,320 \h down to Earth. So once a month, we'll get that data. 50 00:04:55,320 --> 00:05:01,620 \h 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 --> 00:05:08,570 \h 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 --> 00:05:17,140 \h 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 --> 00:05:24,400 \h 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 --> 00:05:30,410 \h but at least we'll have the answer, are there planets like Earth somewhere out there? 55 00:05:30,410 --> 00:05:36,300 \h Thanks Dr. Koch. Before the Kepler spacecraft can start its mission, it has to get into space. 56 00:05:36,300 --> 00:05:41,780 \h 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 --> 00:05:46,180 \h NASA Direct Studio. Who has a question? 58 00:05:46,180 --> 00:05:54,130 \h Hi. My name is Shelia. Did you always want to be a rocket scientist? 59 00:05:54,130 --> 00:06:00,720 \h Hi Shelia! Actually as a kid growing up, I dreamed of launching home runs in a baseball field and 60 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:06,340 \h not necessarily launching rockets. Playing baseball is what I wanted to do. 61 00:06:06,340 --> 00:06:12,530 \h But obviously, I have a great job here at NASA. I am very dedicated to what I do. 62 00:06:12,530 --> 00:06:19,000 \h 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 --> 00:06:26,590 \h is a very rewarding and phenomenal experience. And I'm definitely looking forward to the successful launch 64 00:06:26,590 --> 00:06:32,050 \h of Kepler. So to answer your question, no, but I definitely love what I do now. 65 00:06:32,050 --> 00:06:36,170 \h Hi. My name is Otto. Where do you sit during the countdown? 66 00:06:36,170 --> 00:06:44,710 \h 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 --> 00:06:50,230 \h of the NASA management and ULA management team. The Mission Director's Center is actually located 68 00:06:50,230 --> 00:06:57,360 \h at approximately two to three miles away from the launch site. And the MDC, as we call it, 69 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:05,940 \h is equipped with all kinds of data displays, video screens and communication networks to enable the 70 00:07:05,940 --> 00:07:13,970 \h management team to determine the health of the spacecraft, the health of the launch vehicle and ensure that all 71 00:07:13,970 --> 00:07:16,630 \h systems are ready to proceed with launch. 72 00:07:16,630 --> 00:07:22,360 \h Hi. My name is Lawton. I was just wondering, what kind of fuel does a rocket burn? 73 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:29,040 \h 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 --> 00:07:39,150 \h 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 --> 00:07:47,950 \h liquid oxygen and RP1. RP1 is essentially a highly refined kerosene. 76 00:07:47,950 --> 00:07:51,820 \h Hi. My name is Andres. How do you know what kind of rocket to use? 77 00:07:51,820 --> 00:08:01,090 \h OK. Determining what kind of rocket to use is based on a number of different factors, including cost, schedule, 78 00:08:01,090 --> 00:08:13,420 \h technical requirements and risk. But primarily there are two main factors that we consider the size of the spacecraft 79 00:08:13,420 --> 00:08:18,350 \h and also the orbit where the spacecraft needs to be delivered to. 80 00:08:18,350 --> 00:08:23,230 \h Hi. I'm Kelly. What should I study if I want to become a rocket scientist? 81 00:08:23,230 --> 00:08:33,920 \h 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 --> 00:08:41,380 \h 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 --> 00:08:48,310 \h is to first of all, do good at math and science so that you can develop strong analytical skills. 84 00:08:48,310 --> 00:08:57,970 \h I would also encourage you to take classes in speech and debate so that you can also develop strong 85 00:08:57,970 --> 00:09:06,690 \h communication skills. I think it's also very important that you get involved with team projects and team sports 86 00:09:06,690 --> 00:09:15,880 \h 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 --> 00:09:27,220 \h in either physics, science, engineering or math. I think the combination of strong analytical and communication skills, 88 00:09:27,220 --> 00:09:36,170 \h combined with one of those degrees will open a lot of opportunities for you, including opportunities to work here 89 00:09:36,170 --> 00:09:40,290 \h at the Kennedy Space Center working with rockets. 90 00:09:40,290 --> 00:09:46,560 \h 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 --> 00:09:50,470 \h Goodbye. 92 00:09:50,470 --> 00:09:53,230 \h Now back to your host, Tiffany Nail. 93 00:09:53,230 --> 00:09:59,120 \h Thanks Damon, and thanks to all our guests for helping us learn more about this exciting mission of Kepler.