Ailing Kepler telescope cleared for new duty

By Reuters  • 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA plans to revive its planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope for a new mission after a positioning-system problem sidelined the observatory last year, officials said on Friday.

The telescope was launched in 2009 to search for Earth-size planets suitably positioned around their parent stars to enable liquid water, a condition believed necessary for life.






An Earth-size planet moving around its host star as close as Earth circles the sun would transit once every 365 days. Scientists want to see at least three transits to be sure any telltale light dips are caused by a passing planet and not a stellar flare or other phenomenon.


NASA approved a two-year follow-on mission encompassing all types of stars, rather than just stars like the sun. The observations also will include star clusters, supernovas and objects beyond the Milky Way.

Kepler currently costs NASA about $18 million a year. The telescope flies in an orbit about 40 million miles from Earth.