The brightness of these target stars will allow researchers to use spectroscopy, the study of the absorption and emission of light, to determine a planet’s mass, density and atmospheric composition. TESS will focus on stars between 30 and 300 light-years away and 30 to 100 times brighter than Kepler’s targets. NASA’s Kepler spacecraft found more than 2,600 exoplanets, most orbiting faint stars between 300 and 3,000 light-years from Earth, using this same method of watching for transits. More than 78 percent of the approximately 3,700 confirmed exoplanets have been found using transits.

A transit occurs when a planet passes in front of its star from the observer’s perspective, causing a periodic and regular dip in the star’s brightness. TESS will be watching for phenomena called transits. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). TESS will use four unique wide-field cameras to map 13 sectors encompassing the southern sky during its first year of observations and 13 sectors of the northern sky during the second year, altogether covering 85 percent of the sky. After approximately 60 days of check-out and instrument testing, the spacecraft will begin its work.įor this two-year survey mission, scientists divided the sky into 26 sectors. Over the course of several weeks, TESS will use six thruster burns to travel in a series of progressively elongated orbits to reach the Moon, which will provide a gravitational assist so that TESS can transfer into its 13.7-day final science orbit around Earth. The principal goal of the TESS mission is to use four wide-field cameras to detect small planets around bright host stars in the solar neighborhood so that detailed characterizations of the planets and their atmospheres can be performed. Once in-orbit testing has been completed, TESS will begin its initial two-year mission approximately 60 days after launch. Orbital ATK completed the satellite’s post-launch health checks and configuration activities in preparation for a series of in-space maneuvers, including a lunar gravitational assist, to reach its targeted highly-elliptical orbit.

Spacex launches nasa planet-hunting s