Planet-Hunting Kepler Spacecraft Suffers Major Failure, NASA Says

[baldguy]

Source: Yahoo News

The planet-hunting days of NASA's prolific Kepler space telescope, which has discovered more than 2,700 potential alien worlds to date, may be over.

The second of Kepler's four reaction wheels — devices that allow the observatory to maintain its position in space — has failed, NASA officials announced Wednesday (May 15).

If one or both of those failed wheels cannot be brought back, the telescope likely cannot lock onto target stars precisely enough to detect orbiting planets, scientists have said. [Gallery: A World of Kepler Planets]

...

The $600 million Kepler spacecraft spots exoplanets by flagging the tiny brightness dips caused when they pass in front of their host stars from the instrument's perspective. The mission's main goal is to determine how common Earth-like alien planets are throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

Read more: http://weather.yahoo.com/planet-hunting-kepler-spacecraft-suffers-major-failure-nasa-203147459.html

[Posteritatis]

1. Auuuugh.

Then again, if the thing just spontaneously explodes right now it will still have done one hell of a lot. But still, ugh.

[Auggie]

2. That comes out to about $222,222 per potential alien world ...

I'd call that a good deal.

[longship]

3. Oh dear!!

This is a very sad thing to happen. Especially with all the recent cuts in basic science research.

Kepler was one of those far reaching projects to answer one of the most profound questions, Are we alone?

I sincerely hope that other projects will be able to take up the slack. Unfortunately, none of them will have been designed like Kepler to specifically answer this exact question, How many Earth-sized planets in a habitable zone are there in our galaxy?

That's why I have tears flowing down my cheeks now.

He's dead, Jim!

on edit: Just clicked my NASA app and augured down to Kepler news. Latest thing was a press conference at 4PM announcing Kepler status, with zero details beyond that other than a list of participants.

Will reload this thread for details.

[on point]

4. Can Kepler still be used for other needs? Just report on what it sees at the moment??

[longship]

5. If it cannot point, nope! Updated.

Apparently there is a way it can be used.

Click through, read, and find out about it. It won't be the same, though.

[on point]

22. No, I'm serious. Any spin can be sampled and re-constructed...

Can't we get a new type of heaven sampler of this that simply reports on what it sees at the moment.

Rather than fixing on select points, it is the point, and looks out in every direction so that the spin and sample build a surround view of space at that moment and focus / distance.

Use computers to compensate for motion but we get a 'lookout'

[longship]

25. That may be the kind of thing the Kepler people are trying to work out. nt

[Vestigial_Sister]

15. yeah,

as a boat anchor.

[AAO]

20. Or the worlds biggest paperweight

[thesquanderer]

23. In space, it's weightless... (n/t)

[snooper2]

21. maybe it can search for "heaven"

LOL

[Leontius]

6. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a reusable space vehicle that

could retrieve a satellite or maneuver close enough to allow people to repair them in space.

[Orrex]

8. Oh come on! You're talking pure science fiction!

[Salviati]

9. It wouldn't really help at all in this case.

The satellite is in a heliocentric orbit, not really reachable by a low Earth orbit vehicle like the shuttle.

[joshcryer]

17. Kepler is at one of the L points, which shuttle could never reach.

Though nice, Kepler probably would've benefited with more redundancy, which of course the budgets wouldn't allow.

[jakeXT]

18. Earth trailing orbit

http://blogs.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/2009/03/keplers-unusual-orbit/

[joshcryer]

19. Ah, thanks.

Still, Shuttle ain't going there even if it wasn't retired.

More redundancy would've saved the mission. Hopefully another similar probe goes up. So much opportunity there.

[paleotn]

7. Damn!!

...just damn!!

[SCVDem]

10. Agreed! I hate when this happens! nt

[mbperrin]

11. Was it the Borg?

Someone call Fox with the scoop!

[thesquanderer]

24. Fox will blame it on Obama.

Another Solyndra!

[another_liberal]

12. Maybe the Chinese . . .

I don't think the Russians have a vehicle capable of capturing something that size. It is damn sure the Republicans won't fund anything at this level of basic science, especially when it's as anti-Biblical as space exploration. When the Chinese finish their copy of our Space Shuttle, maybe they will repair or salvage Kepler.

[shireen]

13. don't write them off yet & Kepler has worked beyond primary mission duration

They're still evaluating the situation.

Keep in mind that Kepler is operating beyond its primary mission duration.

More at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/keplerm-20130515.html

[sofa king]

14. KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!

[joshcryer]

16. Most significant unmanned mission in history. :(

This is a damn shame, though it did live its expected life, a few more years would've proved a lot more small planet candidates in the habitable zone.