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NASA Doesn't Think You're Special at All
Let's put things in perspective for a moment: it's pretty unlikely that we're here. The fact that you're reading this post is the result of a set...
02.22.09
Either way, it's the first mission of its kind, the goal of which is to "find terrestrial planets (i.e., those one half to twice the size of the Earth), especially those in the habitable zone of their stars where liquid water and possibly life might exist." Yep, they said "habitable." Mission scientists ultimately hope "to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets." In other words, they're narrowing down the odds finding a second earth, and potentially answering the question of whether or not we're alone in the universe. Sure, that's a bit of an overstatement. But it's not not what they're doing.So, pretty exciting, no?Photo by Flickr user jurvetson.