[X] My Assistant

[imran]

This NASA Discovery mission is to be launched in June 2008 and will search for Earth-size and smaller planets. Launch was originally scheduled in 2007 but delayed by 8 months due to "funding constraints".

Here's the official web site:
http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/

[SpaceListener]

I am trying to find out about the future position of Kepler with respect to Earth. So far I have found the following info which does not satisfy me since it does not tell me about how far will be Kelper following up to Earth with a constant distance?

Sixty-two minutes after launch, Kepler will have separated entirely from its rocket and will be in its final Earth-trailing orbit around the sun, an orbit similar to that of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

[dmuller]

Does anybody know where I can find the spice kernels for Kepler? Since it's orbiting the Sun, I would want to include it on my site.

since it does not tell me about how far will be Kelper following up to Earth with a constant distance?

It will slowly fall behind Earth as it goes around the Sun ... Kepler orbits the Sun and not Earth. To keep it at a constant distance from Earth would involve at least two major trajectory correction maneuvers, so it is much more efficient to launch it into an orbit which is similar to that of Earth