Kepler's mission to find strange new worlds
may be at an end after serious technical failures afflict NASA's famous space
telescope.
An artist's rendition of Kepler.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The Kepler space observatory has been a source of great wonder
since it first launched in 2009. It has turned its eyes out into the great
vastness of space and seen new planetary systems and potentially
life-supporting planets. The telescope's original 3.5-year mission was extended
into 2016, but that may now come to a halt as serious technical issues take a
toll.
Kepler is able to look out in
certain directions thanks to four reaction wheels that are used to point the
spacecraft. As of Wednesday, two out of four reaction wheels have failed.
NASA is looking to a structural failure of the wheel bearing as a
culprit. Ultimately, this means Kepler can't be controlled and directed as it
was before. Kepler has now been put in a resting state to minimize fuel use
while NASA attempts to correct the problem.
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The next steps could take days or weeks to complete, but NASA will
likely attempt to gain back wheel functionality or determine if the
observatory's thrusters could be used in conjunction with the working wheels to
once again orient the spacecraft.
Despite these setbacks, no decision has been made to end Kepler's
mission just yet.
Should this be the craft's death knell, though, it will still have
led an extraordinary life. "Even if data collection were to end, the
mission has substantial quantities of data on the ground yet to be fully
analyzed, and the string of scientific discoveries is expected to continue for
years to come," NASA said.
COURTESY Cnet
