Google climbs aboard search for ET planets

Stan Beer
Thursday, 20 March 2008 13:31

Your IT - Home IT

"Decades, or even centuries after the TESS survey is completed, the new planetary systems it discovers will continue to be studied because they are both nearby and bright," says George R. Ricker, senior research scientist at the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at MIT and leader of the project. "In fact, when starships transporting colonists first depart the solar system, they may well be headed toward a TESS-discovered planet as their new home."

Aside from Ricker, the TESS research team includes Kavli Institute research scientist Roland Vanderspek, professors Sara Seager, Josh Winn, Adam Burgasser, Jim Elliot, Jacqueline Hewitt and several others.

Who knows - maybe the name of the first interplanetary colonist transporter will be Starship Google.