Kepler telescope can’t be fixed

Since its launch on Master of Architecture 6, 2009, the $600 meg Kepler space scope has been hunting for planets outside Earth's star system. And to date, IT's rotated up thousands.  But in July 2012, the National Aeronautics and Space Organization announced that one important part on the space vehicle had failed. In May of this twelvemonth, a sister part unsuccessful. NASA initially hoped it might fix the broken in parts. No. On Aug 15, space-agency officials announced that Kepler's terms was beyond repair.

The spacecraft relies on four "reaction wheels" to assistanc turn the telescope toward the stars that scientists want to target. 2 of those reaction wheels no thirster work correctly. Past losing the ability to precisely taper off the spacecraft toward targeted stars, the telescope can no more notice the small dips in starlight that signify the existence of distant planets.

Educators and Parents, Sign for The Cheat Sheet of paper

Weekly updates to help you use Science Word for Students in the learning environment

Give thanks you for signing up!

At that place was a trouble signing you up.

Last calendar month, engineers forced each of the faulty wheels support into action, one at once. But as each spun, it encountered unexpectedly high friction. This resistance to twisting is a death sentence for telescopes that bank on chemical reaction wheels.

Earlier this month, engineers tried to direct the telescope using the remaining two healthy wheels and the better of its two vexed ones. All seemed to work fine for about 6 hours. But then the scope mechanically turned itself off. The reason: The defective wheel over again had encountered overmuch rubbing.

"The wheels are sufficiently damaged that they cannot sustain spacecraft pointing ascendancy" — at least not for long, reported Prince Charles Sobeck in a telephone briefing for reporters. He's Kepler's deputy project manager and works at the NASA Ames Research Center in northern California.

The good news: The space vehicle is not dead. In fact, Kepler scientists are now exploring what the scope mightiness equal able to fare with fair-and-square its two undamaged reaction wheels. NASA had planned to spend roughly $18 million on Kepler experiments this year. Soon, the space agency will decide whether to go ahead and spend all or part of that money for a reduced mission. It will, even so, be a tough-skinned sell: Kepler's precision stress is what ready-made IT an unexampled scientific asset.

Prior to the Kepler mission, astronomers had known an estimated 350 exoplanets — planets beyond the star system of rules. In just tetrad years, the Johan Keple telescope found over 3,000 more.

Those numbers boosted the case for backing NASA's next exoplanet-hunt mission. Called the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Artificial satellite, or TESS, it's scheduled for a 2022 launch. Different Kepler, which frozen its gaze connected reserved stars, TESS wish focus on bright, nearby stars. If TESS finds planets more or less them, powerful telescopes like the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will be able to probe their atmospheres.

The $200-million scope on TESS will not Be as medium as Kepler's is. Still, the Kepler telescope was so successful at determination exoplanets that TESS scientists are hopeful theirs will bring out plenty of planets in our vicinity, including a handful of Earth-sized worlds.

Share this post