Cape Canaveral Fla: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to revive its planet-hunting Kepler space telescope for a new mission after a positioning system problem sidelined the observatory last year, officials said on Friday.
The telescope was launched in 2009 to search for Earth-sized planets suitably positioned around their parent stars for liquid water, a condition believed necessary for life.
Kepler scientists are still analyzing data to find a true Earth analog but already have added 962 confirmations and 3,845 candidates to the list of 1,713 planets discovered beyond the solar system.
Kepler's steady gaze was broken last year when it lost the second of four positioning wheels. Three are needed for precision pointing.
"Good news from NASA HQ," Kepler deputy project manager Charlie Sobeck wrote in a status report posted on the Kepler website. "The two-wheel operation mode of the Kepler spacecraft ... has been approved."
The first observations of the new campaign, called K2, are scheduled to begin on May 30.Kepler worked by monitoring about 150,000 target stars for slight but regular changes in brightness, a possible sign of a planet passing by, or transiting, relative to the telescope's line of sight.
An Earth-sized planet moving around its host star as close as Earth circles the sun would transit once every 365 days. Scientists want to see at least three transits to be sure any telltale light dips are caused by a passing and not a stellar flare or other phenomenon.
Engineers developed a plan to use pressure from sunlight to balance the telescope, though it no longer will be stable enough to catch the faint signs of small, transiting planets.
NASA approved a two-year follow-on mission encompassing all types of stars, rather than just stars like the sun. The observations also will include star clusters, supernova and objects beyond the Milky Way.
Kepler currently costs NASA about $18 million a year. The telescope flies in an orbit about 40 million miles (64 million km) from Earth.
The telescope was launched in 2009 to search for Earth-sized planets suitably positioned around their parent stars for liquid water, a condition believed necessary for life.
Kepler scientists are still analyzing data to find a true Earth analog but already have added 962 confirmations and 3,845 candidates to the list of 1,713 planets discovered beyond the solar system.
"Good news from NASA HQ," Kepler deputy project manager Charlie Sobeck wrote in a status report posted on the Kepler website. "The two-wheel operation mode of the Kepler spacecraft ... has been approved."
Advertisement
An Earth-sized planet moving around its host star as close as Earth circles the sun would transit once every 365 days. Scientists want to see at least three transits to be sure any telltale light dips are caused by a passing and not a stellar flare or other phenomenon.
Advertisement
NASA approved a two-year follow-on mission encompassing all types of stars, rather than just stars like the sun. The observations also will include star clusters, supernova and objects beyond the Milky Way.
Advertisement
© Thomson Reuters 2014
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Did A Massive Dam In China Alter Earth's Rotation? The Truth Behind Viral Claim 220-Foot NF 2024 Asteroid Racing Towards Earth, NASA Alerts NASA Transmits Missy Elliott's Hip-Hop Song To Venus At Speed Of Light CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor: The Culprit Behind World's Biggest IT Outage Massive Worldwide Microsoft Outage: Flights, Markets, Stock Exchange Down UPSC Cracks Down, Says Puja Khedkar Faked Identity, Parents' Name, Address Amid Microsoft Outage, Chromebook, MacBook Users Enjoyed Smooth Operation Time For Rihanna's Fenty To Take A Bow As It Partners With The Olympics Delhi Cops Crack Kidney Sale Racket Operating Across 5 States Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.