Space Telescope
TESS
OperationalSpace TelescopeHEO
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope for NASA's Explorer program, designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method in an area 400 times larger than that covered by the Kepler mission. It was launched on 18 April 2018, atop a Falcon 9 launch vehicle and was placed into a highly elliptical 13.70-day orbit around the Earth. The first light image from TESS was taken on 7 August 2018, and released publicly on 17 September 2018.
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Launch
- Launch date
- April 18, 2018 at 10:51 PM UTC
- Launch site
- Cape Canaveral SFS, USA
- Launched by
- Falcon 9 Block 4 →
- Operator
- SpaceX
- Mission
- TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)
- Launch record
- View full launch →
Orbit
- Orbit regime
- HEO
- Apoapsis
- 354,239 km
- Periapsis
- 115,524 km
- Inclination
- 56.81°
- Orbital period
- 19655.63 min
Spacecraft
- Operator
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- Manufacturer
- NASA/MIT
- Users
- Government
- Launch mass
- 362 kg
- Design lifetime
- 20 years
Identity
- COSPAR (Int'l)
- 2018-038A
- NORAD catalog №
- 43435
- Object type
- Payload
- Owner / operator
United States
- Status
- Operational