14 DAY TRIAL // The Kepler Space Telescope has been having some problems lately. It started about a year ago when one of its reaction wheels, which are used to keep the telescope pointing in the right direction, failed. Thankfully, the telescope had been built with one extra wheel.
However, earlier this year, a second one failed, leaving the craft unable to maneuver without spending fuel, which is in short supply.
NASA still hopes to fix the problem and have the instrument back at work, though odds are against it.
Thankfully though, it seems, Kepler may be able to continue its planet-hunting mission even with only two working reaction wheels, researchers say. Granted, it won't be able to provide the same data as it has until now, but it can still be useful.
Even in the worst case scenario, the data Kepler has amassed so far should keep scientists busy for years to come. The Kepler team had hoped to have more information, which would give them much better accuracy in some of their findings.
But there's still two years’ worth of data to go through. Analyzing that should confirm many of the thousands of planet candidates that have been detected so far.