back to article NASA's Kepler telescope is sent back to sleep as scientists preserve fuel for the next data dump

Kepler’s resurrection from hibernation has been short-lived - NASA has put the veteren space telescope back in sleep mode after it was up and running less than a month ago. The probe, sent to sniff out exoplanets that may be lie in habitable zones around stars, is expected to run out of fuel soon. Launched in March 2009, the …

  1. Tom 7

    Tis but a scratch!

    I'm well impressed with this old technology. My cars not keen to go anywhere if there's an unneeded bulb out.

  2. Potemkine! Silver badge

    Refueling Kepler

    Wouldn't that be worth the money?

    1. rg287

      Re: Refueling Kepler

      Refueling Kepler

      Wouldn't that be worth the money?

      Unlike Hubble, Kepler is not in Low Earth Orbit where it is easily accessible by existing manned vehicles.

      Moreover, it's not designed to be refueled, and even if you did refuel it, one of it's thrusters and two of the reaction wheels have failed - so you'd be looking at a deep space overhaul of something which was never designed to be touched post-launch (i.e. lots of tiny fiddly bolts and plugs which are fine for a tech in a clean room but not for a spacewalking astronaut).

      It would be cheaper and easier to just build a new telescope with the latest tech and launch that instead.

      1. Crisp

        Re: deep space overhaul of something which was never designed to be touched post-launch

        Have you tried hitting it with a wrench?

      2. Potemkine! Silver badge

        Re: Refueling Kepler

        It would be cheaper and easier to just build a new telescope with the latest tech and launch that instead.

        I'm not that sure about that. Kepler cost was $500 millions, TESS is around $200million. If Bezos or Musk can refuel those with unmanned vehicles for let say $50millions, it may be worth the try.

        Of course, it's obvious it would be better if the ships were designed to be refueled.

        1. Nigel Campbell

          Re: Refueling Kepler

          Any manned mission is going to cost a lot more than 50 million. Kepler wasn't designed for in-flight refuelling. That means sending astronauts out there with tools and tanks full of nasty chemicals like Hydrazine. Not to mention replacing the reaction wheels, calibrating the whole 3-ring circus and shaking it down for a test. There's also the question of whether you've got enough delta-V to actually rendezvous with Kepler in a reasonable length of time - which is a much bigger deal on a manned flight using life support supplies than with a robot spacecraft.

          Maintenance of craft anywhere but low orbit is a knotty problem because of the time to get a manned mission to rendezvous the target quickly. Fast burns tend to use a lot more delta-V (and therefore fuel) than a maximally efficient orbit. The exponential nature of the rocket equation makes piling delta-V onto a mission get very expensive very quickly. Combine that with the size of a manned payload and you make maintenance in-situ a very expensive proposition. By and large nobody bothers to do it with satellites.

          If you want to learn about orbital mechanics then I can't recommend Kerbal Space Program highly enough. You'll not see any better crash course in the practicalities of the subject anywhere - and crash you will.

          https://xkcd.com/1356/

          1. Potemkine! Silver badge

            Re: Refueling Kepler

            Any manned mission is going to cost a lot more than 50 million.

            Why do you absolutely want to send a man there to do the job? It would be much more expensive and life-threatening. Such an operation should be made by a robotic mean

            1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

              Re: Refueling Kepler

              >Why do you absolutely want to send a man there to do the job?

              Because, unless things have changed since Hubble, making the satellite serviceable means that ever part on it - from the computers controlling the cameras to the data link sending the images back have to be man-rated. Which today means using parts from the Shuttle era.

              The advantage of this is that it increase the cost 200-300% and limits you to a handful of suppliers - all owned by Boeing

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Refueling Kepler

              If Bezos or Musk can refuel those with unmanned vehicles for let say $50millions, it may be worth the try.

              Why do you absolutely want to send a man there to do the job? It would be much more expensive and life-threatening. Such an operation should be made by a robotic mean

              I know things like this are easy in Star Trek, and fanboys like to think that their heroes can perform miracles in a tenth of the time and for a hundredth of the cost that real engineers would need, but Star Trek is fiction and this stuff is hard. Very hard.

        2. rg287

          Re: Refueling Kepler

          I'm not that sure about that. Kepler cost was $500 millions, TESS is around $200million. If Bezos or Musk can refuel those with unmanned vehicles for let say $50millions, it may be worth the try.

          The launch would cost you north of $75m. And that's before you developed your payload (including robot butler to disassemble Kepler). Realistically it's at least a $200m mission.

          In 5 years launch costs will (probably) be much lower, but not today.

          And refuelling still leaves you with the issue of replacing a bunch of failed components. It is absolutely not worth it compared with spending the money on a new (and better) telescope. Which is what we did (TESS).

          Maybe in the future (once the economics and launch costs have fallen, and we have orbital factories/shipyards) we will build modular science platforms which can be easily serviced, refuelled and have reaction wheels replaced. But Kepler is not of that generation.

      3. jmch Silver badge

        Re: Refueling Kepler

        "It would be cheaper and easier to just build a new telescope with the latest tech and launch that instead."

        Already done. From the article:

        "...Kepler’s successor, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, launched in April this year"

  3. Petalium

    Scott Manley on a possible cause of why reaction wheels fails

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KibT-PEMHUU

    1. I&I

      Would be useful then to be able to retrieve a few craft with that model of reaction wheels. Or at least one retrievable craft (non LEO, rules out the ISS) with several for comparison. Failure mechanism might apply to other kinds of stuff.

      1. I&I

        Any free time on that new Ruskie “bird” ?

      2. I&I

        Please explain thumbs-down - so I/we can learn.

  4. ArrZarr Silver badge
    Pint

    Kepler One

    Orbits there alone, the end is nearing

    All systems no go, goodbye there

    Control is not convinced

    But the computer has the evidence

    We need to abort

    Hibernation starts

    Watching drowsily, the 'scope is certain

    Nothing left to chance, all is working

    Trying to relax, orbits round the sun

    "Send me up a drink", jokes Kepler One

    The count goes on

    4, 3, 2, 1

    Sol below us

    Drifting sleeping

    Floating weightless

    Calling calling home

    All the fuel is out, we're now adrift.

    Stabilizers off, reactions still

    Finished collecting, requested data

    What will it effect, when all is done

    Thinks Kepler One

    Back at ground control, there is a problem

    Rouse from hibernation, not responding

    Hello Kepler One, are you receiving

    Wake your sleep-filled head up, we're standing by

    There's no reply

    4, 3, 2, 1

    Sol below us

    Drifting sleeping

    Floating weightless

    Calling calling home

    Across the solar wind

    A final message, "use my data well"

    Then nothing more

    Far beneath the probe, the sun is burning

    They don't realize, he's alive

    No one understands but Kepler One sleeps

    Now the light commands, this is my home

    I'm staying home

    <repeat chorus>

    One for all the scientists who worked on this -->

  5. Chairman of the Bored
    Pint

    A pint!

    Sounds like the mission planners and systems engineers have overcome a great deal over the last nine plus years. While waiting for data, I think they need something to wet their whistle

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: A pint!

      >have overcome a great deal over the last nine plus years. While waiting for data

      See all that training on BT broadband was worth it

    2. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: A pint!

      I'll see your pint, and raise you a tot of malt whisky!

      Outstanding work by all involved!

  6. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
    Angel

    Sleeping Satellite

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGL2lcaRYqk

  7. I&I

    “Satellte” by Panic Room

    Gentle, drifty, subtle prog rock, takes a while to build up (and contain its most relevant line, in the chorus).

    https://youtu.be/QI37OJ9g2Rs

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