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NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler telescope disabled
Los Angeles Times ^
| May 15, 2013, 10:13 p.m.
| Amina Khan
Posted on 05/15/2013 11:07:45 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Planet-hunting scientists were dealt a major blow Wednesday when NASA officials announced that a crucial wheel on the Kepler space telescope had ceased to function and that the craft had been placed in safe mode.
Even as NASA officials raised the possibility that they could get the telescope back up and running, scientists began mourning the potential loss of a spacecraft that they said had fundamentally altered our understanding of alien planets in the Milky Wayand Earths place in an increasingly crowded galaxy.
Tears are coming to my eyes on and off, said UC Berkeley astrophysicist Geoff Marcy, a co-investigator on the Kepler mission. I really think this telescope was a gift to our civilization.
With more than 2,700 candidate planets identified and 132 confirmed since its 2009 launch, the Kepler telescope revolutionized scientists appreciation of the number and variety of so-called exoplanets, the bodies that orbit other stars, Marcy said. Its initial 3.5-year mission was extended last year through 2016.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; Science
KEYWORDS: brokentelescope; keplertelescope; muslimoutreach; nasa; xplanets
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Great. Maybe pull all the bucks out of the Muslim outreach and back towards this?
1
posted on
05/15/2013 11:07:45 PM PDT
by
Olog-hai
To: Olog-hai
HOWARD!!! Did you break NASA’s telescope?
2
posted on
05/15/2013 11:11:48 PM PDT
by
bgill
(The problem is...no one is watching the Watch List!)
To: Olog-hai
This is just the first of many telescopes that will be ‘disabled’ to allow the alien invasion force to approach Earth unobserved!
3
posted on
05/16/2013 4:15:41 AM PDT
by
RadiationRomeo
(Step into my mind and glimpse the madness that is me)
To: Olog-hai
Tears are coming to my eyes on and off, said UC Berkeley astrophysicist Geoff Marcy...
4
posted on
05/16/2013 6:24:16 AM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
To: Olog-hai; KevinDavis; annie laurie; Knitting A Conundrum; Viking2002; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
5
posted on
05/18/2013 2:52:49 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
To: brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; bigheadfred; KoRn; Grammy; married21; steelyourfaith; Mmogamer; ...
An extra ping to APoD members.
6
posted on
05/18/2013 2:57:34 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
To: Olog-hai
Tears are coming to my eyes on and off, said UC Berkeley astrophysicist Geoff Marcy, Man up, Geoff...
Oh wait, it's Berzerkly.
7
posted on
05/18/2013 3:01:48 PM PDT
by
hattend
(Firearms and ammunition...the only growing industries under the Obama regime.)
To: Olog-hai
Wheel?
Doesn’t Kepler have a spare tire?
8
posted on
05/18/2013 3:02:04 PM PDT
by
null and void
(Republicans create the tools of opression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
To: Olog-hai
Kepler is powered by four solar panels, and the spacecraft must execute a 90-degree roll every 3 months to reposition them toward the sun while keeping its eye precisely aimed. Kepler launched with four wheels to control that motion — and one of them failed last year.
Yesterday, a second wheel appears to have failed as well, and the space telescope was placed in thruster-controlled safe mode yesterday, said NASA spokesman J.D. Harrington.
Unfortunately, Kepler isnt in a place where I can go up and rescue it, John Grunsfeld, associate administrator, science mission directorate at NASA said during a hastily arranged press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/05/15/faulty-steering-wheel-jeopardizes-kepler-space-telescope-quest-for-alien-life/#ixzz2TgV3SMLf
9
posted on
05/18/2013 3:05:52 PM PDT
by
McGruff
(It's not the crime it's the cover-up someone once said.)
To: SunkenCiv
Not my fault. I was here all day.
10
posted on
05/18/2013 3:07:58 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
To: Olog-hai
Who f’n cares?
Planet searching has zero practical value, and a high cost
11
posted on
05/18/2013 3:11:06 PM PDT
by
editor-surveyor
(Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
To: RadiationRomeo
>> “This is just the first of many telescopes that will be disabled to allow the alien invasion force to approach Earth unobserved!” <<
.
Read my tagline.
12
posted on
05/18/2013 3:13:00 PM PDT
by
editor-surveyor
(Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
To: editor-surveyor
I hope you realized I was joking. Holy cow....
Read your tagline.
13
posted on
05/18/2013 4:06:32 PM PDT
by
RadiationRomeo
(Step into my mind and glimpse the madness that is me)
To: editor-surveyor
I care. I don’t think God wants us to be ignorant.
14
posted on
05/18/2013 4:13:29 PM PDT
by
Moonman62
(The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
To: Olog-hai
This is not a great tragedy. Kepler completed its primary mission already.
Build and launch a better replacement.
15
posted on
05/18/2013 4:14:48 PM PDT
by
Moonman62
(The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
To: bgill
For God’s sake mom I wasn’t even at work this weekend!
16
posted on
05/18/2013 4:20:24 PM PDT
by
rarestia
(It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
To: Moonman62
Some people’s faith in God would be shattered if it were proved that the Earth isn’t center of all Creation.
17
posted on
05/18/2013 4:32:48 PM PDT
by
null and void
(Republicans create the tools of opression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
To: rarestia
Was it your little friends? You’re grounded!
18
posted on
05/18/2013 4:59:07 PM PDT
by
bgill
(The problem is...no one is watching the Watch List!)
To: bgill
But mom! I’m an adult for God’s sake!
19
posted on
05/18/2013 5:45:24 PM PDT
by
rarestia
(It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
To: Moonman62
Ignorant of what?
There isn't a single planet outside of Earth that will ever be a home to men. Fantasizing about other planets is not the product of a rational functioning mind.
20
posted on
05/19/2013 3:31:31 PM PDT
by
editor-surveyor
(Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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