What life-cycle cost did NASA estimate for Kepler before its 2009 launch?
Kepler was designed to find planets around other stars by watching for small dips in their light as they transit. NASA's 2009 pre-launch press kit gave an approximately US$600 million life-cycle estimate, including 3.5 years of planned operations. That estimate is not a final account of its later extended mission.
Published project estimate
$600 million
Cost basis: 2009
NASAPublic domain
Cost evidence
Basis of the published figure
Published project estimate2009
Project metrics
Key dimensions
- MassNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- 1,052.4 kg