NASA engineers have ejected the dust cover from the Kepler telescope, which launched last month on a 3 1/2-year mission seeking Earth-size planets.
The $591 million spacecraft was built by Boulder-based Ball Aerospace & Technologies. It launched March 6 on a rocket from Centennial-based United Launch Alliance.
The University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, which is handling day- to-day control of the spacecraft, sent commands at 8:13 p.m. MDT Tuesday to release the hatch holding the cover closed.
The spring-loaded cover swung open on a fly-away hinge before drifting away from the spacecraft.
The cover is now in its own orbit around the sun, similar to Kepler’s orbit.
Removing the dust cover “is a critical step toward answering a question that has come down to us across 100 generations of human history: Are there other planets like Earth, or are we alone in the galaxy?” said Kepler project manager James Fanson of the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The photometer, built by Ball, will detect slight dips in starlight, which occur when planets pass in front of their stars.
The dust cover protected the instrument during launch.
With the cover off, engineers will calibrate the instrument using images of stars for several weeks before scientific observations begin.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
