"There's some sad news from NASA: The space agency says its Kepler space telescope is beyond repair."

"The $600 million planet-hunting probe whose mission was to search other solar systems for Earth-like planets has lost its ability to keep its gaze on target."

"Two of the four gyroscope-like reaction wheels that keep Kepler pointed in the right direction have broken down and can't be fixed, but NASA is still hoping it can find some less-stressful work for the orbiting observatory."

"The four-year-old telescope had been looking for planets in the "goldilocks" zone — where the planet is neither too close to its star, where it's too hot for life, nor too far away, where it's too cold."