The hunt is
on. The Kepler spacecraft opened to the universe this week and is getting set
to search for Earth-size planets around distant stars. Perhaps we'll find a
home for E.T. I'm simply thrilled that this critical next step went off without
a hitch.
On Tuesday
evening, the Kepler
spacecraft blew its lid. Well, actually it was a lot calmer than that; the
cover was ejected in a carefully engineering maneuver.
At 7:13:36
PM, engineers at Kepler's mission operations center at the Laboratory for
Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), Boulder, Colo., sent commands to pass an
electrical current through a "burn wire" to break the wire and
release a latch holding the cover closed. The spring-loaded cover
swung open on a fly-away hinge, and then drifted away from the spacecraft.
The
telescope's oval-shaped dust cover, measuring 1.7 meters by 1.3 meters (67
inches by 52 inches), protected the photometer from contamination before and
after launch. The dust cover also blocked stray light from entering the
telescope during launch -v light that could have damaged its sensitive
detectors. In addition, the cover was important for calibrating the photometer.
Images taken in the dark helped characterize noise coming from the instrument's
electronics, and this noise will later be removed from the actual science data.
"The
cover released and flew away exactly as we designed it to do," said Kepler
Project Manager James Fanson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif. "This is a critical step toward answering a question that has come
down to us across 100 generations of human history - are
there other planets like Earth, or are we alone in the galaxy?"
"Now
the photometer can see the stars and will soon start the task of detecting the
planets," said Kepler's Science Principal Investigator William Borucki at
NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "We have thoroughly
measured the background noise so that our photometer can detect minute changes
in a star's brightness caused by planets."
Deputy
Principal Investigator, Dr. David Koch, watched the cover ejection from NASA
Ames Research Center, celebrating with the Kepler Science Operations Center
team.
"Besides
launch, this was the most critical event for the Kepler spacecraft, and
everything went as expected," he said. "The spacecraft settled after the
ejection, and the star trackers were rock solid. The first images have been
taken, and we look forward to reviewing those shortly. It was a truly exciting
event."
With the
cover off, starlight is entering the photometer and being imaged onto its focal
plane. Engineers will continue calibrating the instrument using images of stars
for another several weeks, after which science observations will begin.
As a member
of the Kepler team, I'm thrilled that the next major milestone has been
achieved. The month following launch was devoted to spacecraft commissioning.
The engineering team spent the time testing the onboard systems to assure all
that the spacecraft was working correctly. The ejection of the cover marks the
beginning of astronomical observations, the beginning of the search for
Earth-like planets around distant stars. We're on the eve of discovery, and I'm
eagerly awaiting the dawn.
See an
animation of the event at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/videos/cover.html
Kepler is a
NASA Discovery mission. NASA's Ames Research Center Ames is the home
organization of the science principal investigator, and is responsible for the
ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Kepler mission
development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., is
responsible for developing the Kepler flight system and supporting mission
operations. Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of
Colorado at Boulder, is home to the mission operations center.
The SETI
Institute and Lawrence Hall of Science are responsible for Kepler Mission
education and public outreach. Scientists
and engineers from about 30 universities, NASA centers and non-profit
organizations are Co-investigators and/or members of the science working group
in support of the Kepler Mission.
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