kepler
This would be a sad thing…though they’ve already gained years of data.
Here’s hoping.
We need another, more potent Kepler. ASAP.
kepler
This would be a sad thing…though they’ve already gained years of data.
Here’s hoping.
We need another, more potent Kepler. ASAP.
It’s disappointing, but the upside is that there is still a lot of data-mining to be done from the four years of observations we have — enough to keep quite a number of scientists busy for quite a while.
Other things are “in the pipeline” at various stages — something called TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) was recently selected for NASA’s Small Explorer program, and ESA may yet select PLATO for its medium-sized missions, though it missed its first shot.
I understand they haven’t really started on the last year’s worth of data – there’s that much collected. It’s still talking to us, it just can’t accurately point the telescope.
(They’re trying to get the third wheel to unstick, but they aren’t holding their breath.)
It’s really rough when you’re unsure of your (or someone else’s) orientation. LOL.
And that third wheel is generally in for trouble too.
No, I have no scientifically useful comment.
Glad to hear re the other projects. Kepler is, indeed, a step; and there’s always a next one, funding always depending.
I figure that this may be disappointing, but given that its mission had already been extended, we got more out of it than we expected anyway. Kind of like those Mars rovers that were supposed to last two years and kept going like the Energizer Bunny (Spirit’s been silent since 2011, though, a mere 7 years after it went up; Opportunity is still going).
Plus, PJEvans said, it’s still talking to us and can continue searching, if only in the direction it’s currently pointing.
Seaboe
(One posted this below at Shejidan. One thought it might be amusing or worth discussion here too. Thus the re-posting.)
At risk of revealing one’s own ignorance, nadi, what prevents a repair mission? Is it the lack of a manned US space program? Or a suitable shuttle? Or is it distance to orbit? That is, could the Russians send a team of US, Russian, and EU astronauts / cosmonauts to repair Kepler? One assumes the answer is that there is no craft which could reach Kepler, because various governments, the US notably, have become too short-sighted and have lost their direction in space; pun quite intended.
One wonders what would happen if some portion of what is spent internationally on celebrity sports teams were used for space missions. One does not begrudge sports fans or players or advertisers. One only notes the irony.
One shall not further wonder at military spending internationally. One shall not further wonder at why money isn’t used to combat war (ah, irony) or hunger or disease or poverty or joblessness (when customers long for real live people to serve?) or the countless other social ills that could benefit from better global / national budgeting. One only notes these things in passing.
Really, one had not suspected one’s inner hippie flower-child liberal was so annoyed at the current state of affairs (or lack of same). But as one gets older, one is moved toward, rather than away from, such opinions. (One grew up conservative. One has somewhat outgrown this, though one finds a mix is best, personally.)
In any case, one hopes for improved options, so that some satellite telescope platform might continue to search the stars. It is useful to know what’s above one’s head. There may be beauty as well as risk. There may be neighbors, well- or ill-disposed, either is as likely. It is useful to know this too, before one has visitors, or someone more permanent next door.
From what I read, it’s too far away for a repair mission.
Seaboe
I heard it’s something like 49 million miles away along our orbit, but I don’t remember which direction. Getting there would be just a tad difficult.
Too far. The location that gives it a better view makes it too far for our earth-to-orbit oriented vehicles. Now if the ISS had a ‘runabout’ continually docked, we could do more. But then we should be building facilities that enable us to build in orbit, and we’re not doing that either.
The next mission to try to detect Earth analogs will be the “Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite” (TESS) which NASA approved in April for launch in 2017. The problem with not having Kepler able to steer is that it takes multiple years of repeated observation of the same star to build up enough data to look for the small light fluctuations at long intervals that characterize Earth size bodies eclipsing stars of Sol size. For example, if seen from another stellar system, Earth only eclipses Sol once a year if viewed straight on from the solar ecliptic, and it would probably take at least three to five observations of Earth on the single day out of that year in order to ensure that one had a bona fide candidate. Currently the smallest approximately Earth-sized planet at a life zone is Kepler-62f at 1.4 times Earth diameter orbiting around Kepler-62 which is considerably smaller than Sol. (It was found as much because the orbit is smaller, and the planet is proportionately larger than its parent star.) For more info look up an article in Science News May 18, 2013 edition pp5-6. entitled “kepler closes in on Earthlike orbs” (I don’t know if you can get access to the e-version without a subscription.)
Thanks, folks. StarExplorer gave a good, short explanation at Shejidan regarding distance, also.