Kepler Mission Extended to 2016!

[pokerfan]

With NASA’s tight budget, there were concerns that some of the agency’s most successful astrophysics missions might not be able to continue. Anxieties were rampant about one mission in particular, the very fruitful exoplanet-hunting Kepler mission, as several years of observations are required in order for Kepler to confirm a repeated orbit as a planet transits its star. But today, after a long awaited Senior Review of nine astrophysics missions, surprisingly all have received funding to continue at least through 2014, with several mission extensions, including Kepler.

http://www.universetoday.com/94423/kepler-mission-extended-to-2016/

[arcane1]

1. Great news!!!

Kepler and Hubble are two of the grandest of all human inventions

[longship]

2. Wonderful news. We need the James Webb Space Telescope, too

Of course, this would not happen under a Repug admin. They'd call it scientism, claim it was equivalent to satanism and close down all the universities except for Oral Roberts, Liberty, Bob Jones, and certain catholic institutions which pass muster as sufficiently fundamentalist.

A bit of hyperbole, but I can't think that much space science would survive a admin.