Kepler closes quarter nine, moves onto quarter 10
Monday, August 15, 2011 - 08:00
in Astronomy & Space
Summer has been quite busy with the Kepler project team. The mission operations team successfully completed the summer quarterly roll of the spacecraft over June 26-27. The spacecraft is rolled 90 degrees every three months to keep the solar panels pointed at the sun. Power for the spacecraft is provided by four non-coplanar panels with a total area of 10.2 square meters (109.8 square feet). Combined, the 2,860 individual solar cells can produce over 1,100 watts. Thats equivalent to the wattage of the typical household coffee maker.