Last January, scientists guiding the unmanned Kepler Space Telescope spacecraft throughout the Milky Way galaxy discovered an Earth-sized planet - dubbed Kepler -438b - that may be able to sustain life.
NASA is expected to release their findings Thursday morning.
"Exoplanets, especially small Earth-size worlds, belonged with the realm of science fiction just 21 years ago," read a NASA press release announcing the July 23 teleconference. "Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about or thousands of years -- another Earth."
Kepler, which has confirmed 1,028 planets and over 3,000 potential planets since launching in March 2009, seeks outs planets within so-called hospitable zones, or areas far enough from a parent star to maintain liquid water. The $600 million craft did so by observing how potential planets passed the star, analyzing the tiny dip in the star's brightness.
Thursday's announcement continues an auspicious week for the aeronautical government agency. Earlier in the week, breathtaking images from the New Horizons spacecraft uncovered ice mountains on the dwarf planet Pluto. Additionally, an Expedition 44 crew of three astronauts took off Wednesday morning en route to the International Space Station.
Among the briefing participants are NASA's Science Mission Directorate associate administrator John Grunsfeld, Kepler data analysis lead at SETI Institute Jon Jenkins, SETI Institute researcher Jeff Coughlin, and Cambridge University professor Didier Queloz. The guests will field questions submitted to Twitter that include the hashtag #askNASA.
Watch or listen to the entire live stream by heading to NASA's News Audio page.
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