Planet-Hunting Kepler Spacecraft Suffers Major Failure,

[Ichingcarpenter]

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).

CRAP


http://www.space.com/21167-alien-planets-kepler-spacecraft-crippled.html

[unhappycamper]

1. Failure of Nasa's Kepler telescope puts search for another Earth in peril

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/16/search-earth-wheels-kepler-mission

Telescope orbiting the Sun has lost part of its stabilising system, making it too inaccurate to hunt for another Earth

Failure of Nasa's Kepler telescope puts search for another Earth in peril
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 May 2013 03.23 EDT

Nasa's hunt for other planets that could harbour life faces a setback: its Kepler space telescope is broken and, since it is in orbit around the Sun, may prove impossible to fix.

The failure of stabilising systems on the spacecraft could mean an end to the $600m mission's search, although Kepler has already outlived official expectations and the space agency is not yet ready to call it quits. The telescope has discovered scores of planets but only two so far that show strong signs of being habitable.

"I wouldn't call Kepler down and out just yet," said Nasa sciences chief John Grunsfeld.

Nasa said Kepler had lost two out of four wheels that control its orientation in space, meaning it can't point at stars with the same precision.