Saturday, May 18, 2013

The end of the mission already: The Kepler space telescope down? - TF1

Exoplanets discovered in December 2011 by the Kepler satellite class=”title SZ11 c7″ itemprop=”name”> Exoplanets discovered in December 2011 by the Kepler / satellite credits: ABACA press

The Nasa is facing a new failure, after the flight of the ISS. The Kepler telescope spacial suffered a breakdown. This first device launched by NASA to scan exoplanets like the Earth, is paralyzed by a technical problem. Two of the four gyroscopes no longer work. The satellite can no longer point in a given direction of the universe.
“Kepler was my North, my South, my east, my west, my working week, my weekends restless. (…) I thought it would stop ever I was wrong, “laments the astronomer Geoff Marcy, in New Scientist magazine, picked up by the BBC website.

Two planets could harbor life

This problem could indeed interrupt the task started four years ago. Launched in 2009, Kepler frankly renewed study of exoplanets, as he revealed the existence of at least 130 of them in the Milky Way. In April, he even identified two planets that may harbor life forms.
The Kepler mission could end because it is not a question for the moment to repair the satellite is 64 million kilometers from Earth. At such a distance, an automatic procedure or inhabited would not be possible.

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