NASA says its Kepler telescope has awaken up again after being put in sleep mode – although the future of the mission still looks short - lived .
In an updateposted yesterday , the agency state the telescope had begun a new reflexion safari on August 29 , its 19th overall , to track down for planets beyond the Solar System . This was after it had been localise in hibernation due to a lack of fuel .
“ After being roused from rest mode the space vehicle ’s configuration has been modify due to strange behaviour demo by one of the thrusters , ” NASA said in the update .
“ Preliminary indications are that the telescope ’s pointing execution may be slightly degraded . It stay on unclear how much fuel remains ; NASA continues to monitor the health and public presentation of the space vehicle . ”
The scope was placed in sleep mode on August 24 , follow the news to begin with this yr that the spacecraft wasrunning out of fuel . While there is n’t a fuel meter per se on plank , scientist can monitor the pressure of the fuel storage tank to see how it ’s doing .
Kepler needs fuel in ordering to point itself at sensation and find major planet . It does this by watching for a cutpurse in luminosity as satellite occur in front of the stars , known as the transit method , which has proven wildly successful . But it see like its fuel will run out by the end of 2019 .
To date Kepler has found more than2,500 confirmed planets , with another 2,700 or so wait confirmation . The telescope is in its second missionary post , called K2 , after it lose the use ofone of its chemical reaction wheelsused to betoken at stars in 2013 .
When the military mission does come to an closing , it will be an incredibly sad time for exoplanet scientist . Kepler has redefine what we lie with about planet beyond our Solar System , forever changing how we view our position in the galaxy .
Its successor , the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ( TESS ) , was launchedearlier this yearand began scientific discipline operationsin July . But Kepler ’s not done yet – it ’ll keep look for planets on this latest observation campaign until its fuel runs out , whenever that may be .
[ H / T : Space.com ]
