Sunday, July 1, 2018

Kepler cost versus value

A brief search suggests the Kepler mission has cost around $600M. It has found around 4500 planets or candidate planets. Assuming at least 90% of those ultimately verify, that is a cost of $145k per planet found. This is obviously a very superficial and incomplete way to gauge the value of the mission, but I find it an intriguing number none-the-less. I can't help but wonder what the cost per planet found will be for TESS, though I get the sense it will be less than Kepler's. How fun would it be if it one day falls low enough that a crowd-funding effort could suffice:
   "purchase the $50 package, and you can name your own planet! Platinum-package purchases at $500 will get a personalized dvd and poster including the details of a follow-up planetary survey!"
   I know there's a lot of fake/inconsequential star-registries out there where you can pay to name a star, but it would gain a certain legitimacy if it was linked to an actual discovery project...and would be fun.

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