Hearing: Exoplanet Discoveries: Have We Found Other Earths?
Hearing charter
“The purpose of the hearing is to review the recent discovery of three super-Earth sized planets by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Kepler space telescope. The hearing will also assess the state of exoplanet surveying, characterization, and research; NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program; National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Astronomical Science; as well as coordination within the government and with external partners. NASA and NSF both contribute to the search for exoplanets.”
Prepared Statements
– James Ulvestad, NSF
– John Grunsfeld, NASA
– Laurance Doyle, SETI Institute
– Rep. Steven Palazzo
– Rep. Larry Bucshon
– Rep. Lamar Smith
Kepler-62f is easily the most promising out of those three planets. It’s small enough so that it’s either a melted iceball or terrestrial planet (earth-like density would give it a mass of only 2.8 times that of Earth), and while it only has about 45% of Earth’s solar insolation, that might actually be an advantage for a super-Earth as long as it didn’t freeze out in the early history of its solar system (when the sun would have been fainter).
I don’t understand why a House committee hearing is needed to review three planets. I suspect it’s more about “assess[ing] the state of exoplanet surveying, characterization, and research“. I wonder if this might not be more honestly stated as looking for ways to criticize the people and their work so as to justify further budget cuts.