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b'You may be unique, but is your home planet? NASA\\u2019s Kepler spacecraft has uncovered thousands of planetary candidates, far far beyond our solar system. Some may be habitable and possibly even Earth-like. But now a failure in its steering apparatus may bring an abrupt end to this pioneering telescope\\u2019s search for new worlds.\\nBut Kepler has a massive legacy of data still to be studied. Many new worlds will undoubtedly be found in these data. Hear why the astronomer who has discovered the greatest number of exoplanets is hopeful about the hunt for alien life, and meet the next generation of planet-hunting instruments.\\nAlso, \\u201cWeird worlds? That was our idea!\\u201d Sci-fi writers lay claim to the first musings on exotic planetary locales. And a biographer of Magellan and Columbus describes the dangerous hunt for new worlds five centuries ago.\\nGuests:\\n\\n\\nCharlie Sobeck \\u2013 Engineer, deputy project manager, Kepler Mission, NASA Ames Research Center\\n\\n\\nGeoff Marcy \\u2013 Astronomer, University of California, Berkeley\\n\\n\\nDan Clery \\u2013 Deputy news editor, European office of Science\\n\\n\\n\\nLaurence Bergreen \\u2013 author of Voyage to Mars, Columbus: The Four Voyages, 1492-1504, Over the Edge of the World: Magellan\\u2019s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe (P.S.)\\n\\n\\n\\nRobert J. Sawyer \\u2013 Hugo Award-winning author; most recently of Red Planet Blues\\n\\n\\nDescripci\\xf3n en espa\\xf1ol\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'