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Kepler Spacecraft Back in Action After Reaction Wheel Problem

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 10:41

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(Before It's News)

Artist’s concept of Kepler in action. NASA/Kepler mission/Wendy Stenzel.

There has been some concern about the Kepler spacecraft after one of the devices that provide the ability for super-precise pointing began misbehaving. Reaction wheels are devices which aim a spacecraft in different directions without firing rockets or jets, which reduces the amount of fuel a spacecraft needs; Kepler has four of them. Earlier this year, elevated friction was detected in reaction wheel #4, and so as a precaution for wheel safety, and as a measure to mitigate the friction, the reaction wheels were spun down to zero-speed and the spacecraft was placed in a thruster-controlled safe mode.

But now after a “rest” of the wheels for ten days, Kepler has now returned to science data collection beginning on January 28, 2013, and reaction wheel #4 seems to be operating normally, for now. During the 10-day resting safe mode, daily health and status checks with the spacecraft using NASA’s Deep Space Network were normal.
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Read the rest of Kepler Spacecraft Back in Action After Reaction Wheel Problem (415 words)