NASA scrambles as Kepler telescope goes into 'emergency mode'

[Eugene]

21. Nasa re-establishes solid contact with Kepler spacecraft

Source: The Guardian

Nasa re-establishes solid contact with Kepler spacecraft

Hannah Devlin Science correspondent
Monday 11 April 2016 18.07 BST

Nasa scientists have rescued the troubled Kepler mission after re-establishing contact with the spacecraft.

The planet hunting observatory unexpectedly entered emergency mode last week, days before it was due to begin a new phase of its hunt for Earthlike planets. In an official update at the weekend, Charlie Sobeck, the mission manager, said: “The mission has declared a spacecraft emergency.”

He added: “The spacecraft is nearly 75m miles from Earth, making the communication slow. Even at the speed of light it takes 13 minutes for a signal to travel to the spacecraft and back.”

After several days of only sporadic contact with the £395m probe, Nasa has now re-established “solid contact” with the craft. Ground controllers are investigating what triggered the problem and hope the next phase of the mission will go ahead.

“Once data is on the ground, the team will thoroughly assess all onboard systems to ensure the spacecraft is healthy enough to return to science mode,” Sobeck said on Monday.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/11/nasa-re-establishes-solid-contact-with-kepler-spacecraft