Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

E80422

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a NASA space telescope designed to discover exoplanets by monitoring the brightness of nearby stars for periodic dips caused by planetary transits.

Aliases (3)

Statements (53)
Predicate Object
instanceOf NASA space mission
exoplanet-hunting telescope
space telescope
abbreviation TESS
contractor Orbital ATK
countryOfOrigin United States
dataArchive Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes
dataPolicy publicly available data
dataUse identify targets for follow-up with large telescopes
support observations by the James Webb Space Telescope
detects periodic dips in stellar brightness
transiting exoplanets
fieldOfViewPerCamera 24 by 24 degrees
fundingAgency NASA Astrophysics Division
inclination about 37 degrees
launchCountry United States
launchDate 2018-04-18
launchSite Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40
launchVehicle Falcon 9 Block 4
manufacturer Orbital ATK
missionPhase extended mission
missionType astrophysics observatory
exoplanet survey
notableResult discovery of multiple Earth-sized and super-Earth exoplanets
discovery of thousands of TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs)
numberOfCameras 4
observationMethod transit photometry
observes brightness of stars
operator NASA
orbitResonance 2:1 lunar resonance
orbitType high Earth orbit
highly elliptical orbit
PIInstitution MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
powerSource solar panels
predecessor Kepler space telescope
primaryObjective discover exoplanets around nearby bright stars
survey most of the sky for transiting exoplanets
principalInvestigator George R. Ricker NERFINISHED
program NASA Explorer Program
proposalSelection selected as an Explorer mission in 2013
scienceFocus planets suitable for atmospheric characterization
small planets around bright nearby stars
sectorObservationTime about 27 days per sector
spaceAgency Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
spacecraftBus L-101 spacecraft bus
status operational
surveyCoverage approximately 85 percent of the sky
surveyStrategy all-sky survey in sectors
telescopeType wide-field camera array
totalFieldOfView 24 by 96 degrees
wavelengthRange near-infrared
optical


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