How does the Kepler Mission contribute to the Origins missions SIM and TPF?
The Kepler Mission contributes in several ways to both the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) and the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) mission: The Kepler Mission determines the frequency of terrestrial and smaller planets in a larger volume of our Galaxy than available to either SIM or TPF and thereby determines the expected number of planets that either SIM or TPF might observe. If terrestrial planets are rare in the extended solar neighborhood, then the capabilities of both these missions will need to be increased. From the distribution of planets among the different stellar types observed, SIM and TPF will know which types of stars in our immediate solar neighborhood are most likely to have planets. Although neither of these missions will be able to detect terrestrial planets as far away as the Kepler Mission can, the Kepler Mission does identify planetary systems already known to have terrestrial planets. SIM and TPF can observe these systems to determine if there are other larger
