NASA is asking scientists for ideas about new ways to use its Kepler space telescope, whose planet-hunting mission was stalled by a malfunction three months ago.
The space agency issued a call for new mission proposals on Friday, Aug. 2 to help prepare for the likelihood that Kepler will never fully regain its health, which was compromised in mid-May when the second of Kepler's four orientation-maintaining reaction wheels failed. This robbed the instrument of its precision-pointing ability.
"If one of the two reaction wheels cannot be returned to operation, it is unlikely that the spacecraft will resume the nominal Kepler exoplanet and astrophysics mission," Kepler officials wrote in the request for ideas. "The purpose of this call for white papers is to solicit community input for alternate science investigations that may be performed using Kepler, and are consistent with its probable two-wheel performance." Read more...
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