Sierra Rose

Kepler-452b
A Search For Earth 2.0

What is Kepler-452b?
Planet Kepler-452b is the most Earth-like planet discovered to orbit a distant star in a
habitable zone. It is 60% larger than Earth and is 5% farther from the sun. These conditions,
although slightly different from Earth, may provide a life sustaining environment. This planet,
among 11 other small habitable planets, are candidates to finding a second Earth or an Earth
2.0, all of which are named Kepler planets (Kepler-186f, Kepler-452b, Kepler-62e, etc.).
Although many more possible life sustaining planets have surfaced in discovery over time,
Kepler-452b is the most Earth-like and therefore the most likely to sustain life, given its
habitable conditions. Kepler-452b is 1,400 light years away from Earth and was found by NASA
on the 20th anniversary of the discovery that other planets may support life (otherwise known as
Host Planets). I suspect that, over time, we would adapt to the conditions, and perhaps become
stockier over a long period of many generations,8 the lead data analysis researcher for the
Kepler project, Jon Jenkins, says about what living on Kepler-452b would be like. Researchers
suspect the planet is rocky, like Earth, and has a thick atmosphere, liquid water, and active

volcanoes. It is also speculated it may come across a runaway greenhouse effect, similar to
Venus, where a habitable planet becomes hot and barren.

The Planet
Kepler-452b is six billion years old (1.5 billion years older than our sun) and is most
similar to our planets environment. By studying this planet, we have the opportunity to
understand Earths evolution patterns. Because it has spent so long in a habitable zone and in
ideal life-sustaining conditions, it not only provides a possible Earth 2.0, but may host life of its
own. This may bring us one step closer to proving if extraterrestrial life exists outside of our
planet. To reach this planet, we would need a sort of warp drive, seeing as it is 1,400 light years
away. With warp drive, what would take tens of thousands of years to reach a star could be
reached in weeks or months. This is not an impossible feat either. Harold G. White, a physicist
and propulsion engineer at NASA, has developed a team to warp the trajectory of a photon,
changing the distance it travels in a certain area, then monitoring the change. Space has been
expanding since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, says Dr.White about the subject of
whether it is truly possible to achieve a warp drive. And we know that if you look at some of
the cosmology models, there were early periods of the universe where there was explosive
inflation, where two points wouldve went receding away from each other at very rapid speeds.
Nature can do it, so the question is, can we do it? 1

The Issue
There are no groups or movements opposed to the advancement of a warp drive, the
explorations of planets, or the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Of course, there is the ongoing
debate about whether or not life truly exists outside our solar system, separating the public into
categories of believers and non-believers since neither claim can be made true as of yet.
Unfortunately, two things are preventing the mission to Kepler-452b. Funding is one issue and an
engine is another. Warp drive technology, although often used in Sci-Fi films and series, such as
Star Trek, has not yet been made a reality. Warp drive technology is when you move at speeds
greater than light by many orders of magnitude. Since human eyes cannot perceive this level of
speed, the thing warping seems to teleport. As of right now, warp drive technology is still
seemingly impossible, however that has been said about many other absurd theories that have
been made a reality. Right now, NASA is furthering the deep space technology being used today
which is ion propulsion. Ion engines can push a spacecraft at speeds of up to 90,000 miles per
hour using charged particles while using less than 10% of the kilograms of propellant needed by
2

a conventional rocket to provide the same amount of total momentum. Ion propulsion engines
have been operating in space for many years in commercial, military and civil applications.

The Solution
NASA has started a NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program. Their goal is to
find new propulsion methods that eliminate or dramatically reduce the need for propellant. The
program would conduct experiments and theories about warp drives as well as wormholes,
vacuum fluctuation energy, quantum tunneling, superluminal quantum effects, gravity and
electromagnetism. This would involve ways to create motion by manipulating gravity, inertia or
any other interactions between matter and space time. They are also trying to achieve transit
speeds at or near the maximum speed limit for motion through space. As for budget, NASAs
budget is expected to increase steadily in following years, providing funding for many different
fields of space exploration and research development. The Federal Budget is also including a
separate, fully paid $885 million to further enable the NASA mission. This program will help to
further studies of warp drives within the next few years and will help to expand our space
missions to deep space.

The Why
This science could further deep space travel and help to confirm extraterrestrial life along
with decreasing the amount of time it takes to move through space travel. This would increase
our knowledge of what truly is out there as well as possibly provide human colonization on
habitable planets in the future. I believe this will make the lives of human beings much better. It
would provide knowledge as well as an opportunity for discovery, further advancements in our
evolution, and could expand the job market as well as colonization for human beings as a whole.
Most likely, the upper class would benefit most from this discovery, seeing as how making these
explorations could cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. As of now, however, the
thought is not too far away. NASA is hoping to send humans to Mars by the 2030s. The future is
now and I believe this advancement in technology will increase the quality of human life.

The Takeaway
In summation, I believe this discovery is much needed. It will help us to evolve as a
people and understand how our planet works, how the evolutionary process over the next million
years will affect our planet and whether there is life outside of our solar system. Not only can
these feats be accomplished, but they can also lead to further colonization on other planets and
the study of extraterrestrial life, which may also benefit the understanding of our own lives as
well. By investigating further, Kepler-452b will improve human life.

Works Cited:
1. Dr. David Lewis Anderson NASAs Warp-Drive Solution for Faster-Than-Light
Space Travel dailygalaxy.com, The Daily Galaxy, 2 January 2014. Web. 27 October
2015
2. Millis, Marc NASAs Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program
bibliotecapleyades.net Biblioteca Pleyades. Web. 12 October 2015
3. NASA. Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Estimates nasa.gov. NASA. Web. 7 October
2015
4. Gannon, Megan. Would Finding Alien Life Change Religious Philosophies?
livescience.com. livescience. 9 October 2014. Web. 2 October 2015
5. NASA Administrator. Is Warp Drive Real? nasa.gov. NASA. 5 August 2015.
Web. 2 October 2015
6. NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech. Finding Another Earth nasa.gov. NASA. 23 July
2015. Web. 29 September 2015.
7. Parker, Will. NASA discover Earths twin 1,400 light-years away
scienceagogo.com. SCI GOGO. 23 July 2015. Web. 21 September 2015.
8. Wall, Mike. Kepler-452b: What It Would Be Like To Live On Earths Cousin.
space.com. SPACE.com, 24 June 2015. Web. 30 September 2015.