![]() ![]() If only NASA could bolt on some telescope training wheels. To that end, it's put out a "Ĭall for two-wheel science proposals," seeking input from the science community for "alternate science investigations," with the understanding that two-wheel operation "will not provide pointing stability on par with the original mission performance." So NASA is now looking to see what kind of science Kepler might be able to do with only half of its reaction wheels working. ![]() Since then, NASA has been sending commands to Kepler to get it back into full working order, but to no avail. See which new spacecraft are waiting for their chance to hunt for exoplanets. Then this past May, a second one broke down. NASAs 4-year-old Kepler spacecraft isnt the only observatory searching for alien planets. Until it lost its ability to point, Kepler observed a region of the sky containing about 150,000 stars with potential planets, monitoring them for the slight decrease in light caused by planets crossing in front of the star. The telescope first started having problems in July 2012 when one of its reaction wheels stopped working. Most of those identifications have come thanks to one observatory: NASA’s Kepler space telescope. NASA has known for a while now that Kepler's days as a planet hunter "Knowing that Kepler has successfully collected all the data from its prime mission, I am confident that more amazing discoveries are on the horizon," Grunsfeld said. Made some "extraordinary discoveries" in finding planets in this habitable goldilocks zone, includingĪlthough the telescope won't be collecting any more planet-hunting data, there's still lots of information to sift through. John Grunsfeld, the associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate says Kepler has The four-year-old telescope had been looking for planets in the "goldilocks" zone - where the planet is neither too close to its star, where it's too hot for life, nor too far away, where it's too cold.Ĭonfirmed 135 planets orbiting around other stars, and more than 3,500 other "candidate" planets that need further data analysis. Two of the four gyroscope-like reaction wheels that keep Kepler pointed in the right direction have broken down and can't be fixed, but NASA is still hoping it can find some less-stressful work for the orbiting observatory. The $600 million planet-hunting probe whose mission was to search other solar systems for Earth-like planets has lost its ability to keep its gaze on target. At the heart of the telescope is an array of 42 camera sensors specifically designed to detect alien planets passing in. After nine years in deep space collecting data that revealed our night sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets more planets even than stars NASA’s Kepler space telescope was retired. There's some sad news from NASA: The space agency says its Kepler space telescope is beyond repair. A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket launched Kepler on March 7, 2009. ![]()
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