Janice Voss speaking on the Kepler Mission on March 7, 2007

On Wednesday, Mar. 7th, 2007, at 7 pm, Astronaut/Scientist Janice Voss of NASA’s Ames Research Center, will give a non–technical, illustrated talk on: “Searching for Earth–like Planets: NASA’s Kepler Mission” as part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures in the Smithwick Theater, Foothill College, El Monte Road and Freeway 280, in Los Altos Hills, California.

Free and open to the public. Parking on campus costs $2.

Call the series hot–line at 650–949–7888 for more information and driving directions.

No background in science will be required for this talk.

The more than 200 planets discovered around other stars so far are all Jupiter–like planets, big and most likely made of gases and liquids.

Naturally, astronomers are eager to refine their search to be able to identify smaller solid planets, resembling our own Earth. In November 2008, NASA is scheduled to launch the Kepler mission, to search for Earth–like planets around distant stars. Dr. Voss, who is the Science Office Director for the project, will describe the design and expected results from the four–year mission.

Dr. Voss has advanced degrees in electrical engineering and aeronautics/astronautics, and has also done research in space physics. She became an astronaut in 1991, and has been a mission specialist on five space flights. She has logged over 49 days in space, traveling 18.8 million miles in 779 Earth orbits.

As part of the evening, she will also discuss her experiences as a scientist in space and her perspective on the space program. She will take questions from the audience at the end of the talk.

The lecture is co–sponsored by:* NASA Ames Research Center* The Foothill College Astronomy Program* The SETI Institute* The Astronomical Society of the Pacific.