{"id":150,"date":"2013-01-21T16:09:26","date_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=150"},"modified":"2013-01-21T16:09:26","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:09:26","slug":"kepler-exoplanet-scan-suspended-temporarily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=150","title":{"rendered":"Kepler exoplanet scan suspended temporarily"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The lifetime of <a href=\"http:\/\/kepler.nasa.gov\/\">Kepler<\/a>, the great exoplanet finding machine, may be cut prematurely short if efforts to save a balky reaction wheel fall short:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sen.com\/news\/kepler-glitch-suspends-nasa-search-for-new-planets.html\" target=\"_d\">Kepler glitch suspends NASA&#8217;s search for new planets &#8211; sen.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission_pages\/kepler\/news\/keplerm-20130117.html\" target=\"_d\">Kepler Mission Manager Update &#8211; NASA <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mrtommyb\/status\/292089870673903618\" target=\"_d\">Twitter \/ mrtommyb:<\/a> &#8220;To be clear, we are resting the spacecraft as a precaution. There is no evidence to suggest that a reaction wheel failure is imminent.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The lifetime of Kepler, the great exoplanet finding machine, may be cut prematurely short if efforts to save a balky reaction wheel fall short: Kepler glitch suspends NASA&#8217;s search for new planets &#8211; sen.com Kepler Mission Manager Update &#8211; NASA Twitter \/ mrtommyb: &#8220;To be clear, we are resting the spacecraft as a precaution. There &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=150\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Kepler exoplanet scan suspended temporarily<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1640,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=1640","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":0},"title":"Kepler&#8217;s reaction wheel problems continue.","author":"TopSpacer","date":"April 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The very successful exoplanet finding spacecraft Kepler continues to have problems with a reaction wheel. If it fails this will cripple the mission if not end it completely: Kepler reaction wheel still problematic after mitigation - Spaceflight Now","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3795,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3795","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":1},"title":"Update on efforts to revive the Kepler spacecraft","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The amazing successful exoplanet finding spacecraft Kepler went out of action last May when one of its reaction wheels (basically an electric powered gyroscope) ceased to function properly. The spacecraft has four reaction wheels and needs at least three to point its telescope with sufficient stability and accuracy to carry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reaction wheel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nasa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/226xvariable_height\/public\/reaction_wheel.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4004,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4004","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":2},"title":"Kepler must switch to other missions &#8211; no reaction wheel fix found","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Efforts to resurrect the broken reaction wheels on the Kepler space observatory have failed. The spacecraft can still do useful science but not exoplanet transit searches, which requires the extremely stable and precise pointing capabilities provided by 3 working reaction wheels. NASA trying to find new use for crippled Kepler\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10209,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10209","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":3},"title":"TESS will hunt for exoplanets starting in 2017","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Kepler space observatory proved the effectiveness of the transit technique in\u00a0finding exoplanets. After losing one reaction wheel too many, it was assumed that Kepler was an ex-exoplanet finder. However,\u00a0the clever Kepler scientists and engineers found a way to use\u00a0solar radiation pressure to keep the telescope steady in its viewing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Exoplanets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/mpViVEO-ymc\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6409,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=6409","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":4},"title":"Kepler detects 1st exoplanet with new pointing system + Interview with Sara Seager","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0Kepler Observatory\u00a0suffered a huge blow to its pointing precision last year when one of its reaction wheels malfunctioned. However, a scheme is being attempted that will use solar light pressure to compensate for the lost reaction wheel and allow for partial restoration of the observatory's exoplanet finding capabilities. \u00a0(For an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Exoplanets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2303,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2303","url_meta":{"origin":150,"position":5},"title":"Kepler space telescope loses reaction wheel &#8211; exoplanet searching crippled","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"With the loss of another reaction wheel, he Kepler space telescope has lost the ability to maintain the stable orientation needed for observing stars to detect transits of exoplanets: Kepler Mission Manager Update - NASA. The managers of the project, however, insist that the mission is not finished and they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Exoplanets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions\/152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}