NASA transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

SpaceX TESS Launch at 6:32 am Today    NASA in search of more exoplanets

            NASA transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, Exoplanet,SpaceX                                                                  

Meteorologists with the US Air Force 45th Space Wing have predicted an 80 percent chance of favorable weather for SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's launch with NASA's payload Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) aimed at detecting more exoplanets.

The launch is scheduled for Sunday at 6.32 p.m. local time on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, said NASA in a statement late Saturday.

The launch window is just 30 seconds and weather not favourable, the liftoff will be deferred by two more weeks when the moon comes nearer to the Earth. The launch is linked to moon's gravitation pull, which is essential for placing TESS in its unique orbit that nobody tried in the past, said scientists.

Joel Villasenor, an MIT researcher and instrument scientist for TESS explains, "The moon pulls the satellite on one side, and by the time TESS completes one orbit, the moon is on the other side tugging in the opposite direction. The overall effect is the moon's pull is evened out, and it's a very stable configuration over many years. Nobody's done this before, and I suspect other programs will try to use this orbit later on."

The Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite is a successor to the Kepler, which has already located thousands of exoplanets over a decade. Unlike Kepler's telephotos aimed at dim targets far in the distance, TESS has an ultra-wide-angle lens to scan the entire visible sky.

refrence = "http://www.ibtimes.sg/tess-launch-632-am-monday-space-telescope-augment-search-exoplanets-25942"