TESS
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is an active MIT-led all-sky observatory searching bright nearby stars for transiting planets while also monitoring variable stars, supernovae, asteroids, and other changing objects.
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Identity
- Aliases
- Transiting Exoplanet Survey SatelliteTESS MissionTESS Extended Mission
- Name
- TESS
- Status
- active
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is an active MIT-led all-sky observatory searching bright nearby stars for transiting planets while also monitoring variable stars, supernovae, asteroids, and other changing objects.
- Destination
- Highly elliptical high-Earth orbit at approximately 17 × 59 Earth radii (about 13.7-day period; 2:1 resonance with the Moon) for an all-sky search for transiting exoplanets and monitoring variable stars, supernovae, asteroids, and other changing objects
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- Active and successful to date. TESS completed its two-year prime survey, continued through successive extended missions, and by September 2025 had identified nearly 6,000 confirmed or candidate exoplanets. Following a brief January 2026 safe mode, it returned to normal science observations on January 18, 2026.
- Programs
- Start Date
- 2018-04-18
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/TESS/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 17, 2026 at 01:02:09 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 22, 2026 at 13:21:20 UTC
- Image
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Other
- Affiliations
- Search Name
- TESS Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite TESS Mission TESS Extended Mission
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles