The Search for Another Earth: “NASA is currently mulling over a proposal that could help answer a question that has
divided astronomers since we began looking skyward: Are we alone?

The proposal is called the Kepler Mission and both proponents and opponents of the
project say it could change the way we see the universe.

The Kepler Mission, proposed by the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in
Sunnyvale, California, wants to search for potentially life-sustaining planets by launching
a telescope that would orbit around the sun in 2005. For four years, the telescope would
monitor 100,000 stars contained in an area of the sky equal to the size of a human hand
held at arm’s length.” Wired