The joint NASA \/ Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, has completed its first science orbit after launch and orbital activations\/checkouts. Unsurprisingly given TESS\u2019s wide range of view, a team of scientists have already identified the planet-hunting telescope\u2019s first two exoplanet candidates.<\/p>\n
The yet-to-be-confirmed exoplanets are located 59.5 light years from Earth in the Pi Mensae system and 49 light years away in the LHS 3844 system.<\/b><\/p>\n
TESS\u2019s overall health:<\/b><\/p>\n
Following a successful launch on 18 April 2018 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, TESS was injected into an orbit aligned for a gravity assist maneuver one month later with the Moon to send the telescope into its operational 13.65-day orbit of Earth.<\/p>\n
TESS\u2019s orbit is highly unique, with the trajectory designed so the telescope is in a 2:1 resonance with the Moon at a 90\u00b0 phase offset at apogee (meaning the telescope maintains a separation from the Moon so the lunar gravity field doesn\u2019t perturb TESS\u2019 orbit but at the same time keeps the orbit stable) to allow the spacecraft to use as little of its maneuvering fuel as possible to achieve a hoped-for 20 year life.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n