Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




EXO WORLDS
NASA's TESS mission cleared for next development phase
by Staff Writers
Boston MA (SPX) Nov 12, 2014


Conceptual image of TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Image courtesy MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

NASA has officially confirmed the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, clearing it to move forward into the development phase. This marks a significant step for the TESS mission, which would search the entire sky for planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets.

Designed as the first all-sky survey, TESS would spend two years of an overall three-year funded science mission searching both hemispheres of the sky for nearby exoplanets.

"This is an incredibly exciting time for the search of planets outside our solar system," said Mark Sistilli, the TESS program executive from NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We got the green light to start building what is going to be a spacecraft that could change what we think we know about exoplanets."

"During its first two years in orbit, the TESS spacecraft will concentrate its gaze on several hundred thousand specially chosen stars, looking for small dips in their light caused by orbiting planets passing between their host star and us," said TESS principal investigator George Ricker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.

During the third year, ground-based astronomical observatories would continue monitoring exoplanets identified earlier by the TESS spacecraft.

TESS is expected to find more than 5,000 exoplanet candidates, including 50 Earth-sized planets. It will also find a wide array of exoplanet types, ranging from small, rocky planets to gas giants. Some of these planets could be the right sizes, and orbit at the correct distances from their stars, to potentially support life.

"The most exciting part of the search for planets outside our solar system is the identification of 'earthlike' planets with rocky surfaces and liquid water as well as temperatures and atmospheric constituents that appear hospitable to life," said TESS project manager Jeff Volosin at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"Although these planets are small and harder to detect from so far away, this is exactly the type of world that the TESS mission will focus on identifying."

Now that NASA has confirmed TESS, the next step is the Critical Design Review in 2015. This would clear the mission to build the necessary flight hardware for launch.

"After spending the past year building the team and honing the design, it is incredibly exciting to be approved to move forward toward implementing NASA's newest exoplanet hunting mission," Volosin said.

TESS is designed to complement several other critical missions in the search for life on other planets. Once TESS finds nearby exoplanets to study and determines their sizes, ground-based observatories and other NASA missions, like the James Webb Space Telescope, would make follow-up observations on the most promising candidates to determine their density and other key properties.

By figuring out a planet's characteristics, like its atmospheric conditions, scientists could determine whether the targeted planet has a habitable environment.

"TESS should discover thousands of new exoplanets within 200 light years of Earth," said Ricker, a senior research scientist at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

"Most of these will be orbiting bright stars, making them ideal targets for characterization observations with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope."

"The Webb telescope and other teams will focus on understanding the atmospheres and surfaces of these distant worlds, and someday, hopefully identify the first signs of life outside of our solar system," Volosin said.

TESS will use four cameras to study sections of the sky's northern and southern hemispheres, looking for exoplanets. The cameras would cover about 90 percent of the sky by the end of the mission.

This makes TESS an ideal follow-up to the Kepler mission, which searches for exoplanets in a fixed area of the sky. Because the TESS mission surveys the entire sky, TESS is expected to find exoplanets much closer to Earth, making them easier for further study.

In addition, Ricker said TESS would provide precision, full-frame images for more than 20 million bright stars and galaxies.

"This unique new data will comprise a treasure trove for astronomers throughout the world for many decades to come," Ricker said.

Now that TESS is cleared to move into the next development stage, it can continue toward its goal of being a key part of NASA's search for life beyond Earth.

"I'm still hopeful that in my lifetime, we will discover the existence of life outside of our solar system, and I'm excited to be part of a NASA mission that serves as a key stepping stone in that search," Volosin said.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
MIT
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science
Life Beyond Earth






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








EXO WORLDS
ADS primes ESA's CHEOPS to detect and classify exoplanets
Madrid, Spain (SPX) Nov 12, 2014
Airbus Defence and Space, the world's second largest space company, has become the prime contractor for the CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) satellite, the first small type mission of ESA's (European Space Agency) Scientific Programme. The main objective of the CHEOPS mission is to monitor planetary transits by means of ultrahigh precision photometry on known stars that have planets o ... read more


EXO WORLDS
After Mars, India space chief aims for the moon

China examines the three stages of lunar test run

China gears up for lunar mission after round-trip success

NASA's LRO Spacecraft Captures Images of LADEE's Impact Crater

EXO WORLDS
Comet lander 'working well', but may be on slope

China Exclusive: China developing Mars rover

Mars, too, has macroweather

UI instrument sees comet-created atmosphere on Mars

EXO WORLDS
Orion Hoisted Atop Delta 4 Launcher

Application of NASA Earth Science for Planning in African Union Nations

NASA Signs Lease with Planetary Ventures at Moffett Airfield

S3 concludes first phase of drop-tests

EXO WORLDS
China publishes Earth, Moon photos taken by lunar orbiter

China plans to launch about 120 applied satellites

Mars probe to debut at upcoming air show

China to build global quantum communication network in 2030

EXO WORLDS
Europe's 3D printer set for ISS

Astronaut turned Twitter star, Reid Wiseman, back on Earth

Three-man multinational space crew returns to Earth

International Space Station astronauts put GoPro camera in a floating ball of water

EXO WORLDS
Time-lapse video shows Orion's move to Cape Canaveral launch pad

Soyuz Installed at Baikonur, Expected to Launch Wednesday

SpaceX chief Musk confirms Internet satellite plan

Orbital recommits to NASA Commercial program and Antares

EXO WORLDS
NASA's TESS mission cleared for next development phase

ADS primes ESA's CHEOPS to detect and classify exoplanets

Follow the Dust to Find Planets

NASA's TESS Mission Cleared for Next Development Phase

EXO WORLDS
Shaking the topological cocktail of success

Drexel Engineers Improve Strength, Flexibility of Atom-Thick Films

Creating Bright X-Ray Pulses in the Laser Lab

New Process Isolates Promising Material




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.