On Episode 137 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with Dr. Jason Steffen, a professor of physics at UNLV and a member of the science team for the Kepler Space Telescope mission. This mission finally ended in 2018, but the discoveries keep coming. Kepler returned so much data that it was like "drinking from a firehose," Jason tells us.
As many know, Kepler made massive strides in identifying a couple thousand verified exoplanets in its 4-year prime mission, but less known is its amazing transition to the follow-on mission. When two of its reaction wheels (maneuvering devices) failed by 2013, NASA turned to the science team for advisement, and the K2 (Kepler 2) mission was born, seeking to continue the work by aiming the telescope in a given direction and using the pressure of solar wind on its solar panels to keep it oriented.
Also of interest to us is the fact that this 37-inch space telescope, which follows Earth in its orbit around the sun, is essentially a giant photometer, much like a focused light meter you might have used with your camera in the old days--except bigger and a wee bit more expensive.
It's a fun episode, so join us for "Strange New Worlds" on TWiS.
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Space news of the week
- Who Walks Among Us?
- Is SLS a dead rocket walking?
- Did we kill life on Mars?
- Uranus News (a rarity)
- Kepler Exoplanet Mission
- Prof. Jason H. Steffen
- Hidden in the Heavens: How the Kepler Mission’s Quest for New Planets Changed How We View Our Own
Model Falcon 9!
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About This Week In Space
This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?
Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.
