NASA's Kepler Space Telescope runs out of fuel and may not have much more time

The NASA Kepler Space Telescope, the device that has discovered thousands of exoplanets since its launch in 2009, is entering the retirement phase of its life . NASA announced Friday that Kepler's staff had "received an indication that the spacecraft's fuel tank was running very low" and "placed the spacecraft in a hibernation state in preparation for downloading the scientific data collected in his last campaign of observation. " [19659003] Kepler suffered a mechanical malfunction with his steering system in 2013, forcing scientists to develop a clever alternative plan in which they used the sun's rays of pressure to act as a substitute for the energy. one of his failed reaction wheels. This new phase, called K2, is flawed and NASA thought originally that it would only allow 10 sighting campaigns with the remaining fuel. Still, it works, and allows Kepler to observe space spots for about 83 days at a time. According to NASA, while the original Kepler mission found 2,244 exoplanets and 2,327 confirmed exoplanets, the extended K2 mission managed to identify 479 candidates and confirm 323 others. The gear is currently on its 18th K2 observation campaign

NASA is unable to determine the exact amount of fuel remaining in Kepler because there is no gas gauge on board . However, as it is in the deep space, about 100 million kilometers from the Earth's orbit, and that it is not likely to hit another astronomical body potentially carrying life as a moon icy, the agency is free to continue working until he gives up and dies.

According to NASA, Kepler staff put the craft into hibernation mode until August, when it plans to turn it back on and use the Deep Space Network's NASA to transfer mission data to Earth. If that succeeds, they plan to start a 19th campaign of observation with the remaining fuel.

It turns out that Kepler discovered that our solar system is unique compared to others, which included hot giants burning in perilous proximity to their host stars, binary star systems, and red dwarfs in orbit by many rocky worlds. There is also a planet that strangely reflects many features of the Earth. While it is still in limited operation, NASA has already launched a successor, the Transiting Exoplanet Satellite Survey, which returned an incredible image of thousands of stars in March 2018.

[NASA via the Verge]