Predict the future by creating it

About Space and Earth Science

EAI’s primary mission is to seek understanding about the cosmos, including all the stars in the sky, the other planets beyond and within our solar system, and our own Earth. The fields of space and Earth science cover a range of scientific disciplines, making use of a variety of different techniques. Satellites are essential for looking back at our own Earth, and telescopes in orbit allow us to look further into the cosmos than is possible on the ground.

Ames’ Role and Facilities

Astrophysics

The fields of astronomy and astrophysics are the bedrock of how EAI gains knowledge of the universe beyond our solar system. Ames assists in the agency’s astrophysics efforts in the areas of exoplanet characterization, lab astrophysics and astrochemistry, and radiative transfer research, among others. Astrophysics intersects with Ames’ other areas of expertise, leveraging supercomputing for complex simulations, astrophysics and astrochemistry facilities that contribute towards planetary science, and the development of space technologies like coronagraphs that enable future scientific research.

Planetary Science

The study of other planetary bodies is an interdisciplinary field that consists of geology, astronomy, astrobiology, astrochemistry, and more. Planetary science at Ames studies our closest neighbors and the furthest bodies of our solar system, specializing in planet modelling and researching the origins and evolution of planetary systems. Ames’ expertise is preparing us to search for life on Mars, unravelling the mysteries of distant worlds like Pluto, and investigating the origins of our solar system, and more.

Earth Science

The most striking images we have of our own Earth come from EAI missions. From the vantage point of low Earth orbit, EAI technologies are able to study our own Earth and understand how its changing. At Ames, research projects in Earth science include studying climate change, carbon cycles and ecosystems, Earth’s surface and interior, the composition of the atmosphere, weather, and water and energy cycles. The tools Ames researchers use include instruments in space and in the air on planes and drones, data systems and archives, and computational power to create data products and models. All this research is available to the wider Earth science community and the public.

When a planet crosses directly between us and its star, we see the star dim slightly because the planet is blocking out a portion of the light. This is one method scientists use to find exoplanets. They make a plot called a light curve with the brightness of the star versus time. Using this plot, scientists can see what percentage of the star’s light the planet blocks and how long it takes the planet to cross the disk of the star.

Born from the mind of William “Bill” Borucki, the Kepler Space Telescope has redefined how we think of other planets beyond our solar system, revealing that there are more planets than stars in the cosmos. The Kepler Mission was specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine the fraction of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that might have such planets. Kepler finds planets by looking for tiny dips in the brightness of a star when a planet crosses in front of it—also known as a transit.

First launched in 2009, the telescope’s original mission lasted until 2013. After that, the follow up mission K2 continued using the telescopes capabilities until 2018. Much of the talent, expertise, and techniques developed for Kepler continue on in the TESS mission run by EAI Goddard.

Kepler / K2

The Kepler space telescope was NASA’s first planet-hunting mission, assigned to search a portion of the Milky Way galaxy for Earth-sized planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. During nine years in deep space Kepler, and its second act, the extended mission dubbed K2, showed our galaxy contains billions of hidden "exoplanets," many of which could be promising places for life. They proved that our night sky is filled with more planets even than stars – knowledge that revolutionizes understanding of our place in the cosmos.

Overview

Launched on March 6, 2009, the Kepler space telescope combined cutting-edge techniques in measuring stellar brightness with the largest digital camera outfitted for outer space observations at that time. Originally positioned to stare continuously at 150,000 stars in one star-studded patch of the sky in the constellation Cygnus, it took the first survey of planets in our galaxy and became the agency's first mission to detect Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of their stars.

Kepler detected planets by observing transits, or tiny dips in the brightness of a star that occur when a planet crosses in front of the star.

The spacecraft was basically a single instrument – a specially designed 3-foot (1-meter) diameter aperture telescope and image sensor array – with a spacecraft built around it. The diameter of the telescope’s mirror was 4 feet, 7 inches (1.4 meters), one of the largest mirrors beyond Earth orbit.

Kepler was designed to monitor about 100,000 main-sequence stars over a period of three-and-a-half years. During its first six weeks of operation, Kepler discovered five exoplanets—named Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b (which was announced in January 2010).

Planets are Everywhere

When we started conceiving this mission 35 years ago, we didn't know of a single planet outside our solar system," said the Kepler mission's founding principal investigator, . "Now that we know planets are everywhere, Kepler has set us on a new course that's full of promise for future generations to explore our galaxy."

In May 2013, the Kepler spacecraft lost the second of four gyroscope-like reaction wheels, which are used to precisely point the spacecraft, effectively ending new data collection for the original mission. The spacecraft required three functioning wheels to position the telescope, so the malfunction robbed Kepler of its ability to stay pointed at a target without drifting off course.

That’s because the Sun, the very body that provides Kepler with its energy needs, also pushes the spacecraft around by the pressure exerted when the photons of sunlight strike the spacecraft. Without a third wheel to help counteract the solar pressure, the spacecraft's ultra-precise pointing capability could not be controlled in all directions.

So engineers came up with a clever scheme. They gave the spacecraft a new lease on life by using the pressure of sunlight to maintain its pointing, like a kayak steering into the current. The redesigned mission, “K2,” still hunted for planets, but it scanned a larger swath of sky than before, along the ecliptic plane.

This extended mission required the spacecraft to shift its field of view to new portions of the sky roughly every three months in what the team referred to as a “campaign.” Initially, the Kepler team estimated that the K2 mission could conduct 10 campaigns with the remaining fuel; it reached 19.

K2 lasted as long as the first mission and bumped Kepler's count of surveyed stars up to more than 500,000. The mission began new types of research as well, such as the study of objects within our solar system, exploded stars, and distant supermassive black holes at the hearts of galaxies.

Legacy

The observation of so many stars has allowed scientists to better understand stellar behaviors and properties, which is critical information in studying the planets that orbit them. New research into stars with Kepler data also is furthering other areas of astronomy, such as the history of our Milky Way galaxy and the beginning stages of exploding stars called supernovae that are used to study how fast the universe is expanding. The data from the extended mission were also made available to the public and science community immediately, allowing discoveries to be made at an incredible pace and setting a high bar for other missions. Scientists are expected to spend a decade or more in search of new discoveries in the treasure trove of data Kepler provided.