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Published January 2015 | Published + Submitted
Journal Article Open

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

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 2-year mission, TESS will employ four wide-field optical charge-coupled device cameras to monitor at least 200,000 main-sequence dwarf stars with I_C ≈ 4 − 13 for temporary drops in brightness caused by planetary transits. Each star will be observed for an interval ranging from 1 month to 1 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 to 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 4 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

© SPIE 2015. Received June 4, 2014; Revised August 24, 2014; Accepted August 25, 2014; Published online October 24, 2014. 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 (ARC) 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 contributions 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.

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Published - JATIS_1_1_014003.pdf

Submitted - 1406.0151.pdf

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Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 26, 2023