NASA's Kepler Space Telescope to expire soon, runs out of fuel

New Delhi : NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope is running short of fuel and may be work only for a few months from now onwards. This space based telescope is highly responsible for collected scientific data from around 94 million miles away from the Earth’s orbit.

Since, its launch on March 2009, it has been facing many possible mechanical failures, cosmic blasts and so on. Yet, it is working wonderfully in the Space. But now, Scientists predicts that the tank in the Kepler’s craft will dry soon and will shut down within a several months.

As per the official records of 2013, the Kepler’s primary mission came to an end when a second reaction wheel broke making it unable to embrace its original view point. However, the spacecraft was fuelled by means of the pressure of the sunlight to maintain its gaze and thus, its lifetime increased.

It then, came to be known as “K2” with the mission to shift its view point to the new areas of the sky approximately in every three months, which was referred as a campaign. In the beginning, the Kepler Spacecraft team estimated that the “K2” mission can undergo 10 campaign with the fuel stored in the tank. Surprisingly, the craft has completed 16 campaigns and has entered into 17th. 

As of now, the spacecraft team is preparing their best to collect as much as scientific data in the possible time available with them before the craft losses its fuel power and beam back to the Earth. Kepler experts said that they have plans to take some final calibration data with a few drops of fuel, if by chance they get the opportunity.

Further, they also mentioned that they have been monitoring the spacecraft for long time and have seen warning signs of low fuel such as drop in pressure and changes in performance of the thrusters. However, the lack of exact information about the astronomical tool moving in the space allows them to have a rough estimate of what’s going on or may happen in the near future.

Like the Kepler Spacecraft mission, NASA is responsible for carrying out many successful operations in the Space. In order to perform a long-term assignment, National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency must consider reserving enough fuel for last action.

For instance, spacecraft should be designed to avoid collisions with other satellites and uncontrolled fall to the ground. The popular ‘Cassini’ Space Mission must be prepared with enough fuel reserve to avoid sudden shut down on the Earth. 

As of now, the best part is that Kepler’s spacecraft will give its best output till its last fuel drop and we have at least some more months to bring home some most valuable science knowledge. While the spacecraft comes close to expire we will have the ‘Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which is soon to be launched in April 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Scientists mentioned that the TESS will scan almost the entire sky for planets and stars outside our solar system. It will possibly focus on the brightest stars less than 300 light-years away. So friends, our galaxy is a sea of knowledge and we need to prepare ourselves to take a dip into it. Be ready!

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