NASA’S new exoplanet-hunting telescope

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is going to replace the Kepler Space Telescope, which is very close to running out of fuel and is expected to run out around the end of the year. The Kepler Space Telescope has done wonders for discovering earth-sized planets orbiting other stars, finding more than 5000 during its time being active. The Kepler was originally launched back in 2009 and has proved to be invaluable in the research of alien worlds. But, all good things come to an end as TESS is scheduled to launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the 16th of April. The telescope will use a transit method in an area 400 times bigger than what the Kepler could cover, so it’s quite a profound upgrade. TESS will survey the brightest stars near Earth over a two-year mission, including a sample of rocky worlds located in habitable zones of their host stars solar systems, and is predicted to locate around 20,000 exoplanets. Though it will take around two months for TESS to get into position in orbit to collect data, which will be located about halfway between the Earth and the moon. The Telescope will also locate ideal targets for further research for the James Webb Space Telescope that will launch in 2020, as well as more advanced telescopes launched in the future. The Kepler discovered that planets orbiting binary stars are actually quite common. TESS is going to unlock the secrets of these nearby exoplanets, which is pivotal in the future colonization by humans. The only guarantee of avoiding possible extinction is to leave the Earth to inhabit the stars, and this satellite is key in jump-starting this ambition.

This thing is a beast

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