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posted by mrpg on Wednesday October 31 2018, @08:29AM   Printer-friendly
from the wait-didn't-he-die-on-November-15-1630? dept.

NASA Retires Kepler Space Telescope

After nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate our sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets - more planets even than stars - NASA's Kepler space telescope has run out of fuel needed for further science operations. NASA has decided to retire the spacecraft within its current, safe orbit, away from Earth. Kepler leaves a legacy of more than 2,600 planet discoveries from outside our solar system, many of which could be promising places for life.

"As NASA's first planet-hunting mission, Kepler has wildly exceeded all our expectations and paved the way for our exploration and search for life in the solar system and beyond," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "Not only did it show us how many planets could be out there, it sparked an entirely new and robust field of research that has taken the science community by storm. Its discoveries have shed a new light on our place in the universe, and illuminated the tantalizing mysteries and possibilities among the stars."

Kepler has opened our eyes to the diversity of planets that exist in our galaxy. The most recent analysis of Kepler's discoveries concludes that 20 to 50 percent of the stars visible in the night sky are likely to have small, possibly rocky, planets similar in size to Earth, and located within the habitable zone of their parent stars. That means they're located at distances from their parent stars where liquid water - a vital ingredient to life as we know it - might pool on the planet surface.

[...] Before retiring the spacecraft, scientists pushed Kepler to its full potential, successfully completing multiple observation campaigns and downloading valuable science data even after initial warnings of low fuel. The latest data, from Campaign 19, will complement the data from NASA's newest planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, launched in April. TESS builds on Kepler's foundation with fresh batches of data in its search of planets orbiting some 200,000 of the brightest and nearest stars to the Earth, worlds that can later be explored for signs of life by missions such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

The Dawn spacecraft orbiting Ceres will also exhaust the remainder of its hydrazine in the coming days. It will maintain an orbit around Ceres for decades, if not centuries.

Also at The Verge and Associated Press.

Previously: Kepler Space Telescope Put into Hibernation Mode before Start of 19th Observation Campaign
NASA's Kepler Telescope Wakes Up, Begins Hunting for Planets Again

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  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday October 31 2018, @08:20PM (1 child)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday October 31 2018, @08:20PM (#756151)

    I hope the telescope is not going to decay and shed material...

    I also wondered that, so I checked. It is in a heliocentric orbit, which I assume means it is orbiting the Sun not Earth, so we should be fine.

    The other phrase which caught my eye is "Deep Space".

    It seems a shame to me that "Deep Space" is still so close to Earth. Deep space conjures up images of the edges of our solar system to me, but we have made hardly any progress in that direction at all.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 01 2018, @07:35PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 01 2018, @07:35PM (#756583)

    I think that it is used as opposed to LEO/GEO.

    Basically, we have:
    LEO
    GEO
    Deep space
    Interstellar space
    Intergalactic space