There is doubt also over the future of the James Webb Space Telescope in which Europe has a 15% share.
Once such a planet is discovered, the next step belongs to the James Webb Space Telescope, which will launch in 2018.
Proof of this dedication came to light this week with the news that the mirrors for the James Webb Space Telescope are now ready.
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As NASA develops its instrumentation, such as with the James Webb Space Telescope, which launches in 2018, our ability to understand these planets will only improve.
Then there's the replacement for Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which has been very expensive with lots of cost overruns, and now this asteroid mission.
The next stage is a new infrared space telescope -- the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) -- to replace Hubble, currently due to be launched in 2013.
Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope -- designed to reveal the first galaxies ever formed in the universe and to study other planetary systems -- could far surpass Hubble's discoveries.
The world's best, the Hubble Space Telescope, is as big as a school bus and sits out in orbit, while its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be roughly the size of a Boeing 737.
It is also grappling with a big cost overrun on another of its top priorities - the James Webb Space Telescope - and for which the shortfall will have to be picked up by programmes across the agency, perhaps even human spaceflight.
One of five European Space Agency missions being considered for launch in the early 2020's, Nasa also has a series of exoplanet projects at various stages of development, and both the James Webb Space Telescope and ground based observatories are getting in on the act.
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