NASA's Planet Finding Missions

Monday, January 9, 2006, 6:15-8:00pm, Salon 1

The President's vision for space exploration calls for NASA to "conduct advanced telescope searches for Earth-like planets and habitable environments around other stars." The primary missions in these searches are SIM PlanetQuest, and the Terrestrial Planet Finder Missions (TPF-C and TPF-I). Other observatories also play important roles in developing the field of extrasolar planet exploration: e.g. Kepler, Spitzer Space Telescope, JWST, the Keck and LBT Interferometers, and others. In this session, we will have invited talks which will focus on recent science results and show how the various techniques and instruments all have important roles in advancing our understanding in this rich field of research. There will be a brief update on NASA's overall planet-finding program. We will also have updates on the technical and development status of these major missions. Prior to the session, we expect to provide light refreshments for attendees