The Search for Habitable Exoplanets in the Kepler Era and Beyond

For centuries people have wondered, “Are we alone?” With hundreds of planets now known to orbit other stars, we are finally able to begin answering the ancient questions, "Do other Earths exist? Are they common? Do any have signs of life? NASA's Kepler space telescope will soon tell us the statistical numbers of Earth-size planets orbiting sun-size stars. Beyond Kepler is the search for potentially habitable worlds around nearby, sun-like stars. Professor Seager will discuss how astrobiology and space engineering research will come together to enable us to discover and identify other Earth-like worlds.