TESS, Exploring for Exoplanets

TESS mission antenna to explore for exoplanets (credit: YouTube)

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will explore portions of the Milky Way looking for planets orbiting other stars. TESS was launched by the Falcon-9 rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX to transport satellites and their Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Falcon-9 the first new rocket developed completely in the 21st century.

According to NASA, during its two-year star survey TESS will monitor 200,000+ stars for drops in brightness caused by planets as they "transit" in front of their star. It will scan a section of the Milky Way for stars that have planets orbiting them. Tess will specifically identify exoplanets ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants circling stars in a region 30-300 light years distant.

TESS was successfully launched and is now in orbit and returned the first exoplanets observed including one Earth-sized planet within its star's habitable zone ~100 light years away.

WHB

The Lives of Giant Trees A 6th Mass Extinction