Good to hear that there will be a follow up mission to the Kepler space observatory dedicated to finding exoplanets:
- NASA chooses all-sky planet hunter, neutron star watcher for liftoff in 2017 – Cosmic Log
- NASA Selects Explorer Investigations for Formulation- NASA
Update: Don’t see a website for the exoplanet project yet but here is a Wikipedia page: Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.
A commenter here, points also to the other experiment that NASA approved – the Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER). This will be mounted on the exterior of the ISS in 2017 to study neutron stars with a X-ray timing and spectroscopy instrument.
Also, NICER (the neutron star watcher) going to the ISS in 2017 is yet another “nice” addition to contradict the Griffinesque faction that still wants to dump the ISS in 2015 (or as soon as they can).