Or maybe just the inspiration to say... well it could be worse. It is not uncommon for a research program to experience all sorts of delays, setbacks, and even disasters before the midpoint of the funding period. I suspect many reviewers of program progress reports would actually say these obstacles are under reported, which is unfortunate since explaining how one survived the experience is potentially of great value to future investigators. That said, many if not most teams find a hack, work around, or fix that allows them to proceed and produce outputs close to what was originally envisioned and proposed to the funding agency.
I just heard a +Science Friday story on the Kepler satellite that broke down (~4 years after launch), over 40 years aways by rocket and traveling at over 2,000 mph. Technically the project ran to full term but as Ira suggests in the interview, (you've got to be a bit peeved that your relatively new hardware broke so soon with so much unrealized potential). Given that the original research program cannot carry on as usual collecting data, the team is now taking proposals for other potential missions for the stranded satellite. Ideas?... Stories of heroic salvage?... Here is the story on Science Friday.
I just heard a +Science Friday story on the Kepler satellite that broke down (~4 years after launch), over 40 years aways by rocket and traveling at over 2,000 mph. Technically the project ran to full term but as Ira suggests in the interview, (you've got to be a bit peeved that your relatively new hardware broke so soon with so much unrealized potential). Given that the original research program cannot carry on as usual collecting data, the team is now taking proposals for other potential missions for the stranded satellite. Ideas?... Stories of heroic salvage?... Here is the story on Science Friday.
AUG. 23, 2013
A Telescope Fails, but the Hunt for Exoplanets Continues
This artist's concept shows the Kepler spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
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The ailing Kepler planet-hunting telescope cannot be fixed, the victim of failed reaction wheels required to aim the instrument. However, researchers still have reams of data to sift through. William Borucki of NASA and Joshua Winn of MIT discuss the search for distant planets.
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