TESS

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TESS is classified as:

Space & Earth Science

NORAD ID: 43435

Int'l Code: 2018-038A

Perigee: 144,125.1 km

Apogee: 336,457.7 km

Inclination: 48.1 °

Period: 20,319.5 minutes

Semi major axis: 246662 km

RCS: Unknown

Launch date: April 18, 2018
Source: United States (US)
Launch site: AIR FORCE EASTERN TEST RANGE (AFETR)

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is the next step in the search for planets outside of our solar system, including those that could support life. The mission will find exoplanets that periodically block part of the light from their host stars, events called transits. TESS will survey 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun to search for transiting exoplanets. TESS scientists expect the mission will catalog thousands of planet candidates and vastly increase the current number of known exoplanets. Of these, approximately 300 are expected to be Earth-sized and super-Earth-sized exoplanets, which are worlds no larger than twice the size of Earth. TESS will find the most promising exoplanets orbiting our nearest and brightest stars, giving future researchers a rich set of new targets for more comprehensive follow-up studies.

1 43435U 18038A   24142.86804141 -.00001083  00000-0  00000-0 0  9997
2 43435  48.0646  64.5418 3898702 138.0002   6.1697  0.07086773  1297

Source of the keplerian elements: AFSPC