TESS: Unveiling Exoplanets Around Bright Stars And Why It Paused ?

Launched in 2018, TESS is a NASA spacecraft designed to discover exoplanets, planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system. It employs the transit method, searching for dips in starlight caused by a planet periodically crossing in front of its host star.

Mission Objectives:

• Survey 200,000 of the brightest stars near the Sun.
• Identify exoplanet candidates, including Earth-sized and rocky planets.
• Vastly increase the number of known exoplanets compared to previous missions.

Key Features:

• TESS has four wide-field cameras to monitor large areas of the sky.
• It occupies a unique elliptical orbit around Earth, taking 13.7 days to complete a loop.
• The spacecraft transmits data to Earth during its closest approach.

Successes and Significance:

• TESS surpassed its primary mission goals, operating for four years instead of two.
• As of November 2023, it has identified nearly 7,000 exoplanet candidates, with over 400 confirmed.
• TESS paves the way for further study of potentially habitable worlds.
• The bright stars TESS observes allow for easier follow-up observations with ground and space telescopes.

Beyond the Primary Mission:

The TESS mission continues, with scientists analyzing its data for even more exoplanet discoveries. This mission is a crucial step in humanity's quest to understand our place in the universe and the possibility of life beyond Earth.

NASA’s Planet-Hunting Satellite Temporarily on Pause

NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) entered safe mode on April 8th, 2024, which paused its science operations. This happened during routine maintenance activities [NASA's TESS Temporarily Pauses Science Observations]. The exact cause for the switch to safe mode is still under investigation by the team, but the spacecraft itself is reported to be healthy. As of today, April 26th, 2024, we don't have any information on when the science operations will resume, but NASA is working on bringing TESS back to its exoplanet hunting mission.

• The cause for the switch to safe mode is under investigation. NASA is also looking into any         connection between the two recent events.
• The good news is that the TESS spacecraft itself seems to be healthy and stable.

• NASA's team is working to bring TESS back to normal operations and resume its exoplanet hunting mission as soon as possible.