Colorado-built telescope proving itself

NASA's Kepler space telescope has detected the atmosphere of a giant gas planet outside the solar system, in what scientists say is a demonstration of the capabilities of the Colorado-built telescope with just 10 days of test data.

Results will be published in the journal Science. Kepler is designed to search for Earthlike planets over the next three and a half years.

Boulder-based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. built the $591 million spacecraft. Since it was launched March 6 by Centennial-based United Launch Alliance, Kepler has been controlled by the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

The Denver Post
08/07/2009