NASA prompts speculation by scheduling press conference related to Kepler mission

NASA announced today that the Kepler mission's planet-hunting space telescope is no longer able to continue its search due to two failed reaction wheels. The agency scheduled a press conference Wednesday afternoon to confirm the technical difficulties and discuss potential remote fixes. NASA officials said the telescope will start to drift and cannot be stabilized, but they are investigating remote solutions. William Welsh of San Diego State University said the telescope has exceeded expectations but expressed sadness that the mission must end. William Borucki, Kepler's principal investigator, noted that researchers still have large quantities of data to analyze and expect to confirm more Earth-like planets.