Kepler Mission Options

[Stu]

Some very useful Kepler- and exoplanet-related downloadable Outreach resources here...

http://kepler.nasa.gov/ed/starwheel/index.html

[ustrax]

The answers to the great questions that some of you guys sent to Jon Jenkins are alreasdy posted at BtC.
Here's the link.

[ustrax]

Just got word from Natalie Batalha saying that there will be a slight delay, a couple of days, on the detection of first light.

[Syrinx]

Just got word from Natalie Batalha saying that there will be a slight delay, a couple of days, on the detection of first light.

By my count, the shutter was to be thrown overboard on March 25th (basically today). I'm wondering if the shutter will still be opened today (with Kepler's optics disabled), or remain attached and closed.

Just based on my own speculation, I'm wondering if the team needs a longer dark baseline. Maybe the optics are a bit noisier than anticipated.

[ustrax]

Syrinx, according to Batalha, it took longer than expected to get really good calibration images. The had to do an extra telescope pointing just to be sure they got what they needed.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Keep us posted on the dust cover jettison

[ustrax]

FIRST LIGHT!...Slow down ustrax...
Kepler is opening its eyes, not the full ejection but some some sunlight made its way around the cover.
Ejection will probably take place early next week...
http://beyondthecradle.wordpress.com/2009/...th-jon-jenkins/

[HughFromAlice]

-DavidKochInterview - astronomynow

What we might expect over the nominal mission - Quote from DK "talking about Earth-sized planets in a 1AU orbit, and we are expecting something like forty to fifty detections"

[AndyG]

Hi Hugh,

I notice that he goes on to say it's based on the assumption that stars like our sun have terrestrial planets. Which means, I suppose, the number could be many hundreds (to include stars not like our sun) or, indeed, none (Earth The Cosmological Rarity).

As Tom Petty once sang ... the waiting is the hardest part. ;-)

Andy

[ustrax]

As Tom Petty once sang ... the waiting is the hardest part. ;-)

Looks like you're not the only one thinking that thought...

"We’re having a hard time waiting for the dust cover to be released so that we can finally see what the stars look like through Kepler’s eyes. I’m confident that we won’t have to wait too much longer."

New Jon Jenkins update at BtC explaining that "first light".

[belleraphon1]

KEPLER went into limited safe mode on March 23..... on of the reasons the dust cover has not been released as yet.

"2009 March 30. Mission Manager Update - Engineers have determined the cause of Kepler's entry into limited safe mode last week, and are preparing to return the spacecraft to normal operations. In order for Kepler to know where it is in space, and to know where to point its high-gain antenna toward Earth, the spacecraft maintains information about its position, called a state vector, which updates ten times per second. Every few days, navigators on the ground update their knowledge of Kepler's actual orbit, and ground controllers upload a new state vector to the spacecraft. Engineers have concluded that, if the new state vector's start time is a multiple of 1,000 seconds from the start time of the previous vector, a momentary glitch occurs in the calculated spacecraft attitude. Even though this only lasts for one-tenth of a second, the spacecraft senses something it didn't expect and responds by pointing its solar arrays directly at the sun and awaiting further instructions from Earth. It will take a few days to ensure that everything is ready to proceed with commissioning, the next major step being release of the telescope's dust cover. March 30 14:00 UTC - Distance to Kepler: 2,362,000 km; 1,467,000 mi; 0.016 AU; 6.14 times the distance to the Moon."

http://kepler.nasa.gov/about/news.html

Craig

[imipak]

Well, it's nice to know safe mode works properly, too

[ustrax]

Kepler’s cover ejection will, most probably, take place ”mid next week“.

[belleraphon1]

Dust cover soon... space science takes patience...

2009 April 2. Mission Manager Update - Flight controllers have transitioned Kepler out of its low-activity safe mode and have powered on its main instrument, the photometer. The spacecraft is in what is called "standby
attitude" with the telescope pointed at the ecliptic North pole. Data will be collected from the photometer over the many hours it will take to stabilize the instrument at its operational temperature. The technical and programmatic reviews leading to dust-cover release are currently scheduled to be completed on Monday, April 6. Dust-cover release is scheduled to occur not earlier than Tuesday evening, April 7.

http://kepler.nasa.gov/about/news.html

Craig

[ustrax]

Looks like, if everything goes well, that today is the day we've been waiting for...

"(Just like launch) assuming everything goes well from here on out, tomorrow (April 7) evening is going to be a big Kepler Mission milestone! So we’re getting pretty excited about seeing the stars for the first time, but will have to wait at least a few days since there are data transfer and processing delays."