During a routine call up of NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission on 14 May, the spacecraft was found to have fallen into a safe mode with an attitude error. During an attempt to return to reaction wheel control as the spacecraft rotated into communication, and commanded a stop rotation, it appeared that all three wheels responded and that rotation had been successfully stopped. However reaction wheel 4 remained at full torque while the spin rate dropped to zero. According to NASA, this is a clear indication that there has been an internal failure within the reaction wheel, likely a structural failure of the wheel bearing. The spacecraft was then transitioned back to Thruster-Controlled Safe Mode. NASA may now elect to retire the spacecraft which has exceeded its three year old design life by over a year. During its service the spacecraft has discovered hundreds of planets orbiting distant stars.
Reaction wheel failure means only two left on Kepler and it may be the end for the mission
About Seradata
Seradata produces the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).
For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/
Related Articles
With a record 11,000 attendees and over 2,000 presentations, there were too many ideas, exhibition stands, papers and talks for Read more
On 12 September I was asked to do an interview with Al Jazeera English covering the Polaris Dawn spacewalk. What was Read more
My dad was a firefighter, just not the kind that puts out flames in buildings. Instead, he fought fires in Read more
NASA has cancelled its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project 14 months before the golf-cart sized rover, which has Read more
When H G Wells imagined a species of space creatures called Selenites living under the lunar surface in his sci-fi Read more
The dust had barely settled from the fireworks and celebrations of the new year, before launch vehicles were being launched Read more
Farah Ghouri finds out the status of the Lunar Pathfinder project, why the cubesat bubble is far from bursting, and Read more
A launch of the PSLV-DL (flight number PSLV-C58) from Satish Dhawann Space Centre, Sriharikota, India took place at 0340 GMT Read more
ESA has awarded a development contract to the UK arm of Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus DS) to create key Read more
Stay Informed with Seradata
Stay informed on the latest news, insights, and more from Seradata by signing up for our newsletter.