Objectives: we are proposing to provide science and operations support for the kepler and K2 missions, working in collaboration with the kepler/KL project team at NASA ames research center. The two…

The Seti Institute, a non-profit scientific organization, was awarded a $5,010,743.00 Cooperative Agreement by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center to provide science and operations support for the Kepler and K2 missions. The work will involve supporting the closeout of the Kepler science mission and the ongoing K2 science operations, including data collection, processing, and archiving. The Seti Institute will leverage its team of experienced Kepler/K2 scientists to execute the required activities. This contract does not have a set-aside designation and is intended to assist NASA in completing the Kepler mission and efficiently operating the K2 mission through September 30, 2021.

Objectives: we are proposing to provide science and operations support for the kepler and K2 missions, working in collaboration with the kepler/KL project team at NASA ames research center. The two primary objectives of this project are to (1) support the closeout of the kepler science mission and (2) support the K2 science operations from the collection of data to the archiving of the mission results. The proposed kepler work will occur from june 2017 through the end of the kepler closeout at the end of september 2017. The proposed K2 work will occur from june 2017 through the end of the K2 mission. Methods: the work proposed here supports eleven scientists, both full-time and part-time, who will continue to support the kepler science closeout and the K2 mission operations and data processing as a part of the kepler science office (so) and science operations center (SOC) at NASA ames research center. All of the proposal team are experienced members of the kepler/K2 team. Scientists will be responsible for developing the work plan and coordinating the personnel required to carry out each assigned activity within the scope of this cooperative agreement proposal and the kepler/KL project schedule. Perceived impact: the proposed work in support of kepler is critical to the successful closeout of the mission and the completion of a legacy archive. Two of the key goals for the kepler closeout were the creation of a uniformly vetted planet candidate catalog and the creation of a series of occurrence rate products that would allow the scientific community to compute planet occurrence rates independently. These products and the supporting documentation were deemed critical for kepler's legacy by the kepler mission, the kepler users panel, and the external occurrence rate review panel, and have been on the kepler closeout schedule approved by the NASA exoplanet program office. CO-is on this proposal are leading the catalog, occurrence rate, and legacy documentation efforts. The work proposed for K2 primarily involves support for mission flight operations, data processing operations, and data archival. Scientists on this proposal are critical to all phases OFK2 operations from field-of-view and target selection through final mission data and documentation delivery to the mast. The ongoing efficient operation of K2 and timely delivery of quality data to the community relies on the work proposed here.