14 DAY TRIAL // The Kepler mission is one of the most ambitious ones NASA has, but not necessarily in terms of size and complexity, but as far as goals go. The powerful telescope, currently on an Earth-trailing orbit, more than 10,700,000 kilometers (about 6,600,00 miles) away from our planet, is set to discover new, Earth-like planets in the northern constellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Draco. Scientists estimate that the telescope will be able to unveil a large number of planets that have the same dimensions as our own, and probably exist around the stars at suitable lengths to support life.
On June 15th, the team managing the telescopes went through a tough time, when the observatory suddenly entered safe mode. The science team immediately started running diagnostics, so as to get a better clue of what caused the malfunction. The glitch also shut down the craft's photometer, which was brought back online when the danger was identified. According to the results of the diagnostics check, an error in Kepler's main processor was responsible for the faulty behavior. However, all secondary systems were unaffected, and none of the science the observatory did until that point was lost.
Once the photometer was back online, the team downloaded all the scientific data from the satellite's memory banks, and then uplinked the quarterly command to turn. The telescope has been reassigned to its primary mission, while the research team continue to analyze the telemetry data they recovered from it, in order to identify the exact problem that led to the safe-mode event. The astronomers said that there was a 12-day interval per year in which Kepler could go into this state, so that all other operations were not adversely affected.
Mission controllers communicate with the spacecraft twice per week, but they only download the science data once every month. The next scheduled download will take place in late July, as Kepler takes further images of its designated patch of sky. The area was selected as the mission's main objective because of the great potential it has for revealing Earth-like planets, with several hundred thousands objects of interest identified before the telescope was even built.