Kepler Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Bounces Back After Glitch - See more at: http://www.space.com/32534

http://www.space.com/32534-nasa-kepler-exoplanet-spacecraft-recovers-glitch.html

NASA's Kepler spacecraft, the most prolific exoplanet hunter of all time, has bounced back from a mysterious glitch and may be able to resume operations soon.

Mission managers succeeded in getting Kepler out of "emergency mode" (EM) Sunday (April 10), and the space telescope is in a stable state with its antenna pointed toward Earth, allowing communications to resume.

"Once data is on the ground, the team will thoroughly assess all onboard systems to ensure the spacecraft is healthy enough to return to science mode and begin the K2 mission's microlensing observing campaign, called Campaign 9," Kepler mission manager Charlie Sobeck, of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, said in a statement. "This checkout is anticipated to continue through the week." [Gallery: A World of Kepler Planets]

Kepler's handlers discovered on Thursday (April 7) that the spacecraft had gone into EM — the lowest operational mode — for the first time ever. They still don't know what caused the anomaly, though they have ruled out some possibilities.

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