MOC-7773 TESS

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an Explorer-class spacecraft. Its two 12 months mission is to carry out an all-sky survey and observe tons of of hundreds of close by stars searching for exoplanets. TESS is anticipated to seek out greater than 3000 new exoplanets, together with rocky Earth-sized planets in liveable zone of their mother or father star. This catalog of close by exoplanets will permit observatories and future spacecraft to pick out targets for extra detailed examine. The mission is scheduled to launch no later than June 2018.The Measurements:

The essential instrument on TESS is a set of 4 extensive field-of-view charge-coupled machine (CCD) cameras that may search for planets starting from rocky Earth-sized ones to fuel giants.

The Method:

TESS will discover new exoplanets utilizing the transit technique. This entails monitoring the brightness of stars and searching for non permanent reductions in brightness brought on by a planet crossing in entrance of its host star.

The Motion:

TESS will journey in a High Earth Orbit (HEO) with a interval of 13.7 days. This leads to a steady 2:1 resonance with the Moon, which suggests TESS will full two orbits round Earth for each orbit of the Moon.

The Management:

The TESS mission is managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The spacecraft was constructed by Orbital ATK (OA). Additional companions within the mission embody the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI), MIT Lincoln Laboratory (LL), NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC), the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (SAO), and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).

More:

•  Official Website

•  Mission Website

•  Fact Sheets