Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
Abstract
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS ) will search for planets transiting bright and nearby stars. TESS has been selected by NASA for launch in 2017 as an Astrophysics Explorer mission. The spacecraft will be placed into a highly elliptical 13.7-day orbit around the Earth. During its two-year mission, TESS will employ four wide-field optical CCD cameras to monitor at least 200,000 main-sequence dwarf stars with I_C (approximately less than) 13 for temporary drops in brightness caused by planetary transits. Each star will be observed for an interval ranging from one month to one year, depending mainly on the star's ecliptic latitude. The longest observing intervals will be for stars near the ecliptic poles, which are the optimal locations for follow-up observations with the James Webb Space Telescope. Brightness measurements of preselected target stars will be recorded every 2 min, and full frame images will be recorded every 30 min. TESS stars will be 10-100 times brighter than those surveyed by the pioneering Kepler mission. This will make TESS planets easier to characterize with follow-up observations. TESS is expected to find more than a thousand planets smaller than Neptune, including dozens that are comparable in size to the Earth. Public data releases will occur every four months, inviting immediate community-wide efforts to study the new planets. The TESS legacy will be a catalog of the nearest and brightest stars hosting transiting planets, which will endure as highly favorable targets for detailed investigations.
Additional Information
© 2014 SPIE. Many people and institutions have generously supported TESS over the years, including: Aerospace Corporation, Google, the Kavli Foundation, the MIT Department of Physics, the MIT School of Science, Mr. Gregory E. Moore and Dr. Wynne Szeto, Mr. Richard M. Tavan, and Mr. Juan Carlos Torres. Extensive support has also been provided by NASA Headquarters, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and NASA's Ames Research Center under the following grants and contracts: NNG09FD65C, NNX08BA61A, NNG12FG09C, and NNG14FC03C. The authors also wish to thank the following individuals for their important scientific, technical, and other con- tributions to the mission: Charles Alcock, Fash Asad, Mark Bautz, Chet Beals, Dave Bearden, Marc Bernstein, Greg Berthiaume, Ed Bertschinger, Adam Burgasser, Barry Burke, Claude Canizares, Ben Cichy, Kris Clark, Dave Czajkowski, Debra Emmons, Jim Francis, Joe Gangestad, Bob Goeke, Jose Guzman, Kari Haworth, Greg Henning, Jackie Hewitt, Shane Hynes, Marc Kastner, Brian Lewis, Robert Lockwood, Gerry Luppino, Francois Martel, Bill Mayer, Chad Mendelsohn, Ed Morgan, Bill Oegerle, Randy Persinger, Ron Remillard, Matt Ritsko, Tim Sauerwein, Robbie Schingler, Joe Scillieri, Rob Simcoe, Tony Smith, Dave Strobel, Vyshi Suntharalingam, Jeff Volosin, Kim Wagenbach, Nick White, Pete Worden, and Maria Zuber.Attached Files
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 78375
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170620-103349794
- NNG09FD65C
- NASA
- NNX08BA61A
- NASA
- NNG12FG09C
- NASA
- NNG14FC03C
- NASA
- Created
-
2017-06-21Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Series Name
- Proceedings of SPIE
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 9143