Planet-hunting Kepler probe now has new mission

NASA is planning to assign a new mission to its planet-hunting Kepler space telescope after a positioning system problem sidelined it last year.

Kepler deputy project manager Charlie Sobeck wrote in a status report posted on the Kepler website that the two-wheel operation mode of the Kepler spacecraft has been approved, News24.com reported.

The first observations of the new campaign, called K2, would be beginning on May 30.