In-flight photometric performance of the 96Mpx focal plane array assembly for NASA s Kepler exoplanet mission

Kepler is NASA s first space mission dedicated to the study of exoplanets. The primary scientific goal is statistical-to estimate the frequency of planetary systems associated with sun-like stars. Kepler was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric" drift-away" orbit in March 2009, and is monitoring 150,000 stars. The instrument detects the faint photometric signals of transits of those systems whose orbital planes are oriented in our line-of-sight. An Earth-Sun analog will produce a transit depth of 80 parts per million (ppm), lasting for at ...