Kepler

Looks like Kepler is dead. Which is unfortunate...there are other ways to find exoplanets but the telescope was doing a great job.

It seems that it was built with four "aiming" wheels and needed three...but is now down to two. It's not in a place where a mechanic can go up and fix it, either, according to the guys who worked on the Hubble.

It's a shame, although it did last about as long as its initial predicted operating life. Next? Maybe a replacement will be a future mission for Dragon X or one of the other big cargo rockets they're using to get stuff to the ISS.

One can hope.