Space telescope NASA “Kepler” worth $ 600 million that have exhausted their fuel for almost ten years after the launch in 2009, woke up after four months of sleep on Thursday and now transmits data to Earth, according to engineers. If all goes well, he will continue his mission to search for distant exoplanets in other star systems.
After waking up from hibernation “Kepler” started to transfer the data collected in the course of the 18th the 80-day study in phase K2 — continue the original mission, launched after in 2013 the ship received a mechanical fault in the steering system. If you still have a little bit of fuel, NASA will try to use the telescope for the 19th observation mission.
Space telescope “Kepler” very much alive
It was originally expected that fuel will only last for 10 such sessions during phase K2, but “Kepler” simply doesn’t want to stop. Stage of hibernation were included to stretch the remaining fuel of the telescope and ensure that he will direct himself to the Ground at the right time.
“Kepler” has scanned over 150,000 stars, finding candidates 2244 2327 confirmed exoplanets and exoplanets. Phase K2 was not ideal, but allowed to find 479 candidates and confirm 323 others.
Unfortunately, fuel “Kepler” will inevitably end, sooner rather than later.
Space telescope “Kepler” is still alive. Perhaps it will be enough for another search for exoplanets
Ilya Hel