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SpaceX Vehicles and Missions => SpaceX Falcon Missions Section => Topic started by: gongora on 02/20/2018 06:27 pm

Title: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: gongora on 02/20/2018 06:27 pm
Updates Thread for TESS mission.

NSF Threads for TESS : Discussion (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36349.0) / Updates (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=45038.0)
NSF Articles for TESS :
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?s=TESS

Successful launch on April 18, 2018 at 1851 EDT/2251 UTC on Falcon 9 (using the final new Block 4 booster, B1045) from SLC-40 at KSC.  ASDS landing was successful.



December 16, 2014
NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. TESS will launch aboard a Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle, with liftoff targeted for August 2017 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The total cost for NASA to launch TESS is approximately $87 million, which includes the launch service, spacecraft processing, payload integration, tracking, data and telemetry, and other launch support requirements.

TESS’s science goal is to detect transiting exoplanets orbiting nearby bright stars. During a three-year funded science mission, TESS will sample hundreds of thousands of stars in order to detect a large sample of exoplanets, with an emphasis on discovering Earth- and super-Earth-sized planets in the solar neighborhood.

The Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for management and oversight of the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch services for TESS. The TESS Mission is led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with oversight by the Explorers Program at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.



Other SpaceX resources on NASASpaceflight:
   SpaceX News Articles (Recent) (http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/spacex/)
   SpaceX News Articles from 2006 (Including numerous exclusive Elon interviews) (http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=21862.0)
   SpaceX Dragon Articles (http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/dragon/)
   SpaceX Missions Section (with Launch Manifest and info on past and future missions) (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=55.0)

   L2 SpaceX Section (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=60.0)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 02/20/2018 06:33 pm
TESS's launch windows are somewhat abnormal given what we're used to, but they make sense given its orbital needs.

On each launch day, the daily window will only be a few seconds in duration based on Falcon 9 fuel loading requirements.

The overall launch period is, generally, as follows:
Approx 10 days of back-to-back opportunities.
Approx. 5 days of stand down ops.
Repeat as needed.

The 16 April launch opportunity window begins with daily launch periods in the evening local time at CCAFS.  The launch window advances by ~20mins each day based on Earth, Moon, launch-site alignment/phasing.

Once the F9 places TESS in its initial orbit, it will take ~60 days to progressively raise, change the inclination, and then lower the orbit (including a lunar flyby) before TESS reaches its science orbit and begins functioning.

It will spend 12 months surveying nearly the entire Southern Hemisphere's worth of stars first.  It will then reorient to spend the next 12 months doing the same for the Northern Hemisphere.

Primary mission is 2 year duration.  TESS is designed to function, with funding extensions, for over 20 years.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 02/21/2018 06:23 pm
Quote
The last solar array deployment test for @NASA_TESS has been completed! #TESS is ready for fueling and then launch! @NASAGoddard @OrbitalATK @MIT @MITLL @NASAAmes @TESSatMIT

https://twitter.com/nasa_tess/status/966381556066594816
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 03/04/2018 08:43 pm
TESS - the latest exoplanet finder - in final preparations for launch -
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/03/tess-exoplanet-finder-final-preparations-launch/

- By Justin Davenport.

This covers the spacecraft overview! :)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Michael Baylor on 03/06/2018 06:42 pm
Media accreditation is open. Launch date and time confirmed.

Quote
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is targeted to launch no earlier than 6:32 p.m. EDT April 16 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. The mission will find planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, that periodically block part of the light from their host stars as they pass by, or transit.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 03/07/2018 08:04 am
March 06, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-041

Media Invited to Upcoming Launch of NASA’s Newest Planet-Hunting Spacecraft

Media accreditation now is open for the launch of a NASA spacecraft that will search for planets outside of our solar system with a field of view almost 400 times larger than that of the agency’s Kepler mission.

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is targeted to launch no earlier than 6:32 p.m. EDT April 16 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. The mission will find planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, that periodically block part of the light from their host stars as they pass by, or transit.

Media prelaunch and launch activities will take place at CCAFS and NASA’s neighboring Kennedy Space Center. Credentialing deadlines are as follows:

•International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15, for access to CCAFS, or by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 29, for Kennedy media activities only.
•U.S. media must apply by 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 6.

All media accreditation requests should be submitted online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov/

For questions about accreditation, please email [email protected]. For other questions, or additional information, contact Kennedy’s newsroom at 321-867-2468.

TESS will search for thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest and nearest stars outside our solar system during a two-year period of surveying our solar neighborhood. In its mission to identify new worlds, the spacecraft will monitor more than 200,000 stars, looking for a telltale sign: a decrease in a star’s brightness that occurs when an orbiting planet transits between its star and an observing spacecraft, temporarily blocking the star’s light.

TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. George Ricker of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission.

Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participating in the mission.

NASA’s Launch Services Program is responsible for launch management of TESS.

For more information on TESS, go to:

https://www.nasa.gov/tess
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 03/07/2018 01:01 pm
Posted a couple of days ago:

Quote
Moving @NASA_TESS into the clean tent @NASAKennedy where it will wait to meet the @SpaceX Falcon 9!

https://twitter.com/NASA_TESS/status/970737478926782467
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Targeteer on 03/19/2018 04:41 pm
March 19, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-045

Join NASA at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, March 28, as astrophysics experts discuss the upcoming launch of NASA’s next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Reporters can attend the event in person at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington or participate by phone.

The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Scheduled to launch April 16, TESS is expected to find thousands of planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, orbiting the nearest and brightest stars in our cosmic neighborhood. Powerful telescopes like NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope can then further study these exoplanets to search for important characteristics, like their atmospheric composition and whether they could support life.
Credits: NASA GSFC

The news briefing participants will be: 

    Paul Hertz, director, Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
    George Ricker, TESS principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts
    Sara Seager, TESS deputy director of science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
    Jeff Volosin, TESS project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

A question-and-answer session will take place during the event with reporters on-site and by phone. Members of the public can also ask questions during the briefing by participating in person, or using #AskNASA.

To participate by phone, reporters must contact Felicia Chou at 202-358-0257 or [email protected], or Claire Saravia at 301-286-1940 or [email protected], no later than the morning of March 28.

For more information on TESS, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/tess
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 03/20/2018 07:03 am
https://youtu.be/ZsPStvGgNuk
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 03/28/2018 06:51 pm
March 28, 2018
RELEASE 18-016

NASA Prepares to Launch Next Mission to Search Sky for New Worlds

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is undergoing final preparations in Florida for its April 16 launch to find undiscovered worlds around nearby stars, providing targets where future studies will assess their capacity to harbor life.

“One of the biggest questions in exoplanet exploration is: If an astronomer finds a planet in a star’s habitable zone, will it be interesting from a biologist's point of view?” said George Ricker, TESS principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research in Cambridge, which is leading the mission. “We expect TESS will discover a number of planets whose atmospheric compositions, which hold potential clues to the presence of life, could be precisely measured by future observers.”

On March 15, the spacecraft passed a review that confirmed it was ready for launch. For final launch preparations, the spacecraft will be fueled and encapsulated within the payload fairing of its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

TESS will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. With the help of a gravitational assist from the Moon, the spacecraft will settle into a 13.7-day orbit around Earth. Sixty days after launch, and following tests of its instruments, the satellite will begin its initial two-year mission.

Four wide-field cameras will give TESS a field-of-view that covers 85 percent of our entire sky. Within this vast visual perspective, the sky has been divided into 26 sectors that TESS will observe one by one. The first year of observations will map the 13 sectors encompassing the southern sky, and the second year will map the 13 sectors of the northern sky.

The spacecraft will be looking for a phenomenon known as a transit, where a planet passes in front of its star, causing a periodic and regular dip in the star’s brightness. NASA’s Kepler spacecraft used the same method to spot more than 2,600 confirmed exoplanets, most of them orbiting faint stars 300 to 3,000 light-years away

“We learned from Kepler that there are more planets than stars in our sky, and now TESS will open our eyes to the variety of planets around some of the closest stars,” said Paul Hertz, Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters. “TESS will cast a wider net than ever before for enigmatic worlds whose properties can be probed by NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope and other missions.”

TESS will concentrate on stars less than 300 light-years away and 30 to 100 times brighter than Kepler’s targets. The brightness of these target stars will allow researchers to use spectroscopy, the study of the absorption and emission of light, to determine a planet’s mass, density and atmospheric composition. Water, and other key molecules, in its atmosphere can give us hints about a planets’ capacity to harbor life.

“TESS is opening a door for a whole new kind of study,” said Stephen Rinehart, TESS project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which manages the mission. “We’re going to be able study individual planets and start talking about the differences between planets. The targets TESS finds are going to be fantastic subjects for research for decades to come. It’s the beginning of a new era of exoplanet research.”

Through the TESS Guest Investigator Program, the worldwide scientific community will be able to participate in investigations outside of TESS’s core mission, enhancing and maximizing the science return from the mission in areas ranging from exoplanet characterization to stellar astrophysics and solar system science.

“I don’t think we know everything TESS is going to accomplish,” Rinehart said. “To me, the most exciting part of any mission is the unexpected result, the one that nobody saw coming.”

TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT and managed by Goddard. George Ricker, of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, serves as principal investigator for the mission. TESS’s four wide-field cameras were developed by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission.

For more information on TESS, go to:

https://www.nasa.gov/tess
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 03/28/2018 06:52 pm
https://youtu.be/Q4KjvPIbgMI
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Star One on 03/28/2018 08:23 pm
This is TESS, Our Newest Planet-Hunter

TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, 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. In this image, technicians help prepare the spacecraft for its mission.

Currently scheduled to launch on April 16, 2018, TESS will survey the entire sky over the course of two years by breaking it up into 26 different sectors, each 24 degrees by 96 degrees across. The powerful cameras on the spacecraft will stare at each sector for at least 27 days, looking at the brightest stars at a two-minute cadence. From Earth, the Moon occupies half a degree, which is less than 1/9,000th the size of the TESS tiles.The stars TESS will study are 30 to 100 times brighter than those the Kepler mission and K2 follow-up surveyed, which will enable far easier follow-up observations with both ground-based and space-based telescopes. TESS will also cover a sky area 400 times larger than that monitored by Kepler.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/tess_with_techs_4000.jpg

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/this-is-tess-our-newest-planet-hunter
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: deruch on 03/30/2018 03:54 am
March 19, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-045

Join NASA at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, March 28, as astrophysics experts discuss the upcoming launch of NASA’s next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Reporters can attend the event in person at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington or participate by phone.

...

The news briefing participants will be: 

    Paul Hertz, director, Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
    George Ricker, TESS principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts
    Sara Seager, TESS deputy director of science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
    Jeff Volosin, TESS project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=immnIymQoVw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=immnIymQoVw?t=001


NASA Discusses Upcoming Launch of Next Planet Hunter

NASA Video
Published on Mar 28, 2018

During a press conference at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., astrophysics experts discussed the upcoming launch of NASA’s next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
 
Scheduled to launch April 16, TESS is expected to find thousands of planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, orbiting the nearest and brightest stars in our cosmic neighborhood. Powerful telescopes like NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope can then further study these exoplanets to search for important characteristics, like their atmospheric composition and whether they could support life.

Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: catdlr on 04/05/2018 04:05 am
The Unique Orbit of NASA’s Newest Planet Hunter


NASA Goddard
Published on Apr 4, 2018

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite - TESS - will fly in an orbit that completes two circuits around Earth every time the Moon orbits once. This special orbit will allow TESS’s cameras to monitor each patch of sky continuously for nearly a month at a time. To get into this orbit, TESS will make a series of loops culminating in a lunar gravity assist, which will give it the final push it needs. TESS will reach its orbit about 60 days after launch.

https://youtu.be/-AIbD2WxyN8?t=001

https://youtu.be/-AIbD2WxyN8

Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/08/2018 07:53 pm
Quote
Going inside NASA’s Clean Room for a rare look at a SpaceX payload
By TomCross
Posted on April 8, 2018

NASA invited media to a very special opportunity to go inside their Clean Room at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is where satellites are meticulously prepared in the weeks leading up to their scheduled launch date.

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-payload-tess-nasa-clean-room/
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/09/2018 12:07 pm
We expect the Static Fire to be NET Wednesday per Range documentation.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/10/2018 08:47 pm
Quote
Launch hazard area for upcoming #SpaceX mission with NASA's TESS spacecraft. Indicates post-launch operations at sea, possibly drone ship recovery for #Falcon9 first stage. Targeting Monday liftoff from LC-40 at 1832 ET (2232 UTC).

https://twitter.com/emrekelly/status/983804678172442624?s=21
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/11/2018 11:08 am
F9 is confirmed as vertical on the pad ahead of the Static Fire test. Window opens at 11 am local.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/11/2018 01:39 pm
Quote
I can confrim @SpaceX #Falcon9 1st stage for @NASA_TESS raised at #pad40 this v hazy AM 4/11. awaiting ignition for static fire test. window opens 11am. @ken_kremer kenkremer.com spaceupclose.com

https://twitter.com/ken_kremer/status/984057211436617729
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/11/2018 01:40 pm
Quote
The @SpaceX #Falcon9 fairing for @NASA_TESS arrived over the weekend to meet #TESS for encapsulation @NASAKennedy. After launch, TESS will find new planets around other stars, called exoplanets, that scientists will study for decades to come.

https://twitter.com/nasa_tess/status/984057626706239488
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/11/2018 03:11 pm
Someone tell Ken Kremer to go grab some Brunch. This one is going to be several hours into the window at least.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Raul on 04/11/2018 06:30 pm
M1380 TESS Launch Hazard Areas (https://goo.gl/L9HXtj) based on issued NOTMAR. Planned droneship position included.

Considering to the launch azimuth, I still remain with the assignment to M1380, which has ASDS recovery position 302km downrange according to 0136-EX-ST-2018 (although 0135-EX-ST-2018 incorrectly mentions 39a for M1380).
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/11/2018 06:43 pm
Static fire test reported. Wait for SpaceX to confirm via quick look review.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/11/2018 06:46 pm
Picture: https://twitter.com/spaceflightnow/status/984138547287519233
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/11/2018 07:10 pm
Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete—targeting April 16 launch of @NASA_TESS from Pad 40 in Florida.

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/984146401578827776
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/11/2018 08:20 pm
https://youtu.be/yJQfQUHdZyA (https://youtu.be/yJQfQUHdZyA)

Quote
Published on 11 Apr 2018
Bad picture quality due to very high winds and air moisture. This should be the last Falcon 1.2. Next, up Block 5, We are a US disabled veteran run, non-profit video production company whose mission is to bring other disabled US Veterans to witness a launch, experience US Space History and become part of our report. Our nonprofit 501(c)(3) is 100% tax deductible, just go to our webpage www.USLaunchReport.com which is merged with www.VeteransSpaceReport.com and find our Donate button. You can help change the life of a US Veteran.                  Thank You
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Michael Baylor on 04/12/2018 09:52 pm
High resolution images of Fairing 2.0.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: vaporcobra on 04/12/2018 10:00 pm
High resolution images of Fairing 2.0.

Source here :) https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasakennedy/

Edit: aaaand three more pics!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Lewis007 on 04/13/2018 10:38 am
Attached is a PDF file for those who wish to build a model of TESS (scale 1:20).
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/13/2018 12:46 pm
L-3 launch weather forecast is 80% GO:

Quote
Launch day probability of violating launch weather constraints: 20%
Primary concern(s): Liftoff Winds
   
Delay day probability of violating launch weather constraints: <10%
Primary concern(s): Liftoff Winds
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 04/13/2018 03:09 pm
April 13, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY 007-18

Kennedy Space Center Traffic and Road Closures for April 14-16


Heavy traffic on and around the Kennedy Space Center and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is expected April 14-16 due to center activities surrounding the upcoming launch of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is planned for no earlier than 6:32 p.m. EDT on Monday, April 16.

PUBLIC ACCESS ROAD CLOSURES

- State Road 3 from the Gate 2 News Media Pass and Identification Building to State Road 405 (NASA Causeway) including Space Commerce Way will be closed to unauthorized vehicles once the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex parking lot reaches capacity on Saturday, April 14 through Monday, April 16. The roads will reopen after launch.

- NASA Causeway between U.S. 1 and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex also will close once capacity is reached at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex parking lot. The roads will reopen after launch.

- The A. Max Brewer Causeway bridge on S.R. 406 in Titusville (north bridge) east to State Road 3 will be open to all motor vehicle traffic. Gate 1 will be open to badged personnel.

Learn more about TESS at http://www.nasa.gov/tess.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/13/2018 03:21 pm
Quote
.@NASA_TESS was encapsulated within the @SpaceX  #Falcon9 fairing at @NASAKennedy. #TESS is on track for an April 16th launch attempt.

https://twitter.com/nasa_tess/status/984798370018545665
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Targeteer on 04/13/2018 03:57 pm
http://news.mit.edu/2018/tess-readies-takeoff-discover-exoplanets-0412


TESS readies for takeoff

Satellite developed by MIT aims to discover thousands of nearby exoplanets, including at least 50 Earth-sized ones.
Watch Video

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office
April 12, 2018
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There are potentially thousands of planets that lie just outside our solar system — galactic neighbors that could be rocky worlds or more tenuous collections of gas and dust. Where are these closest exoplanets located? And which of them might we be able to probe for clues to their composition and even habitability? The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will be the first to seek out these nearby worlds.

The NASA-funded spacecraft, not much larger than a refrigerator, carries four cameras that were conceived, designed, and built at MIT, with one wide-eyed vision: to survey the nearest, brightest stars in the sky for signs of passing planets.

Now, more than a decade since MIT scientists first proposed the mission, TESS is about to get off the ground. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, no earlier than April 16, at 6:32 p.m. EDT.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will discover thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest stars in the sky. In a two-year survey of the solar neighborhood, TESS will monitor more than 200,000 stars for temporary drops in brightness caused by planetary transits. This first-ever space borne all-sky transit survey will identify planets ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants, around a wide range of stellar types and orbital distances. No ground-based survey can achieve this feat. (NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab)

TESS will spend two years scanning nearly the entire sky — a field of view that can encompass more than 20 million stars. Scientists expect that thousands of these stars will host transiting planets, which they hope to detect through images taken with TESS’s cameras.

Amid this extrasolar bounty, the TESS science team at MIT aims to measure the masses of at least 50 small planets whose radii are less than four times that of Earth. Many of TESS’s planets should be close enough to our own that, once they are identified by TESS, scientists can zoom in on them using other telescopes, to detect atmospheres, characterize atmospheric conditions, and even look for signs of habitability.

“TESS is kind of like a scout,” says Natalia Guerrero, deputy manager of TESS Objects of Interest, an MIT-led effort that will catalog objects captured in TESS data that may be potential exoplanets.

“We’re on this scenic tour of the whole sky, and in some ways we have no idea what we will see,” Guerrero says. “It’s like we’re making a treasure map: Here are all these cool things. Now, go after them.”

A seed, planted in space

TESS’s origins arose from an even smaller satellite that was designed and built by MIT and launched into space by NASA on Oct. 9, 2000. The High Energy Transient Explorer 2, or HETE-2, orbited Earth for seven years, on a mission to detect and localize gamma-ray bursts — high-energy explosions that emit massive, fleeting bursts of gamma and X-rays.

To detect such extreme, short-lived phenomena, scientists at MIT, led by principal investigator George Ricker, integrated into the satellite a suite of optical and X-ray  cameras outfitted with CCDs, or charge-coupled devices, designed to record intensities and positions of light in an electronic format.

“With the advent of CCDs in the 1970s, you had this fantastic device … which made a lot of things easier for astronomers,” says HETE-2 team member Joel Villasenor, who is now also instrument scientist for TESS. “You just sum up all the pixels on a CCD, which gives you the intensity, or magnitude, of light. So CCDs really broke things open for astronomy.”

In 2004, Ricker and the HETE-2 team wondered whether the satellite’s optical cameras could pick out other objects in the sky that had begun to attract the astronomy community: exoplanets. Around this time, fewer than 200 planets outside our solar system had been discovered. A few of these were found with a technique known as the transit method, which involves looking for periodic dips in the light from certain stars, which may signal a planet passing in front of the star.

“We were thinking, was the photometry of HETE-2’s cameras sufficient so that we could point to a part of the sky and detect one of these dips? Needless to say, it didn’t exactly work,” Villasenor recalls. “But that was sort of the seed that started us thinking, maybe we should try to fly CCDs with a camera to try and detect these things.”

A path, cleared

In 2006, Ricker and his team at MIT proposed a small, low cost satellite (HETE-S) to NASA as a Discovery class mission, and later on as a privately funded mission for $20 million. But as the cost of, and interest in, an all-sky exoplanet survey grew, they decided instead to seek NASA funding, at a higher level of $120 million. In 2008, they submitted a proposal for a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) Class Mission with the new name — TESS.

At this time, the satellite design included six CCD cameras, and the team proposed that the spacecraft fly in a low-Earth orbit, similar to that of HETE-2. Such an orbit, they reasoned, should keep observing efficiency relatively high, as they already had erected data-receiving ground stations for HETE-2 that could also be put to use for TESS.

But they soon realized that a low-Earth orbit would have a negative impact on TESS’s much more sensitive cameras. The spacecraft’s reaction to the Earth’s magnetic field, for example, could lead to significant “spacecraft jitter,” producing noise that hides an exoplanet’s telltale dip in starlight.

NASA bypassed this first proposal, and the team went back to the drawing board, this time emerging with a new plan that hinged on a completely novel orbit. With the help of engineers from Orbital ATK, the Aerospace Corporation, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the team identified a never-before-used “lunar-resonant” orbit that would keep the spacecraft extremely stable, while giving it a full-sky view.

Once TESS reaches this orbit, it will slingshot between the Earth and the moon on a highly elliptical path that could keep TESS orbiting for decades, shepherded by the moon’s gravitational pull.

“The moon and the satellite are in a sort of dance,” Villasenor says. “The moon pulls the satellite on one side, and by the time TESS completes one orbit, the moon is on the other side tugging in the opposite direction. The overall effect is the moon’s pull is evened out, and it’s a very stable configuration over many years. Nobody’s done this before, and I suspect other programs will try to use this orbit later on.”

In its current planned trajectory, TESS will swing out toward the moon for less than two weeks, gathering data, then swing back toward the Earth where, on its closest approach, it will transmit the data back to ground stations from 67,000 miles above the surface before swinging back out. Ultimately, this orbit will save TESS a huge amount of fuel, as it won’t need to burn its thrusters on a regular basis to keep on its path.

With this revamped orbit, the TESS team submitted a second proposal in 2010, this time as an Explorer class mission, which NASA approved in 2013. It was around this time that the Kepler Space Telescope ended its original survey for exoplanets. The observatory, which was launched in 2009, stared at one specific patch of the sky for four years, to monitor the light from distant stars for signs of transiting planets.

By 2013, two of Kepler’s four reaction wheels had worn out, preventing the spacecraft from continuing its original survey. At this point, the telescope’s measurements had enabled the discovery of nearly 1,000 confirmed exoplanets. Kepler, designed to study far-off stars, paved the way for TESS, a mission with a much wider view, to scan the nearest stars to Earth.

“Kepler went up, and was this huge success, and researchers said, ‘We can do this kind of science, and there are planets everywhere,” says TESS member Jennifer Burt, an MIT-Kavli postdoc. “And I think that was really the scientific check box that we needed for NASA to say, ‘Okay, TESS makes a lot of sense now.’ It’ll enable not just detecting planets, but finding planets that we can thoroughly characterize after the fact.”

Stripes in the sky

With the selection by NASA, the TESS team set up facilities on campus and in MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory to build and test the spacecraft’s cameras. The engineers designed “deep depletion” CCDs specifically for TESS, meaning that the cameras can detect light over a wide range of wavelengths up to the near infrared. This is important, as many of the nearby stars TESS will monitor are red-dwarfs — small, cool stars that emit less brightly than the sun and in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

If scientists can detect periodic dips in the light from such stars, this may signal the presence of planets with significantly tighter orbits than that of Earth. Nevertheless, there is a chance that some of these planets may be within the “habitable zone,” as they would circle much cooler stars, compared with the sun. Since these stars are relatively close by, scientists can do follow-up observations with ground-based telescopes to help identify whether conditions might indeed be suitable for life. 

TESS’s cameras are mounted on the top of the satellite and surrounded by a protective cone to shield them from other forms of electromagnetic radiation. Each camera has a 24 by 24 degree view of the sky, large enough to encompass the Orion constellation. The satellite will start its observations in the Southern Hemisphere and will divide the sky into 13 stripes, monitoring each segment for 27 days before pivoting to the next. TESS should be able to observe nearly the entire sky in the Southern Hemisphere in its first year, before moving on to the Northern Hemisphere in its second year.

While TESS points at one stripe of the sky, its cameras will take pictures of the stars in that portion. Ricker and his colleagues have made a list of 200,000 nearby, bright stars that they would particularly want to observe. The satellite’s cameras will create “postage stamp” images that include pixels around each of these stars. These images will be taken every two minutes, in order to maximize the chance of catching the moment that a planet crosses in front of its star. The cameras will also take full-frame images of all the stars in a particular stripe of the sky, every 30 minutes. 

“With the two-minute pictures, you can get a movie-like image of what the starlight is doing as the planet is crossing in front of its host star,” Guerrero says. “For the 30-minute images, people are excited about maybe seeing supernovae, asteroids, or counterparts to gravitational waves. We have no idea what we’re going to see at that timescale.”

Are we alone?

After TESS launches, the team expects that the satellite will reestablish contact within the first week, during which it will turn on all its instruments and cameras. Then, there will be a 60-day commissioning phase, as engineers and scientists at Orbital ATK, NASA, and MIT calibrate the instruments and monitor the satellite’s trajectory and performance. After that, TESS will begin to collect and downlink images of the sky. Scientists at MIT and NASA will take the raw data and convert it into light curves that indicate the changing brightness of a star over time.

From there, the TESS Science Team, including Sara Seager, the Class of 1941 Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and deputy director of science for TESS, will look through thousands of light curves, for at least two similar dips in starlight, indicating that a planet may have passed twice in front of its star. Seager and her colleagues will then employ a battery of methods to determine the mass of a potential planet.

“Mass is a defining planetary characteristic,” Seager says. “If you just know that a planet is twice the size of Earth, it could be a lot of things: a rocky world with a thin atmosphere, or what we call a “mini-Neptune” — a rocky world with a giant gas envelope, where it would be a huge greenhouse blanket, and there would be no life on the surface. So mass and size together give us an average planet density, which tells us a huge amount about what the planet is.”

During TESS’s two-year mission, Seager and her colleagues aim to measure the masses of 50 planets with radii less than four times that of Earth — dimensions that could signal further observations for signs of habitability. Meanwhile, the whole scientific community and public will get a chance to search through TESS data for their own exoplanets. Once the data are calibrated, the team will make them publicly available. Anyone will be able to download the data and draw their own interpretations, including high school students, armchair astronomers, and other research institutions.

With so many eyes on TESS’S data, Seager says there’s a chance that, some day, a nearby planet discovered by TESS might be found to have signs of life.

“There’s no science that will tell us life is out there right now, except that small rocky planets appear to be incredibly common,” Seager says. “They appear to be everywhere we look. So it’s got to be there somewhere.”

TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. George Ricker of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research institutes, and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Michael Baylor on 04/13/2018 08:42 pm
Port Canaveral radio:

Hawk: "Hawk over here with the SpaceX barge making preparations to get underway at 1700. Just looking to see how the traffic is going."

Harbor Master: "Disney Dream is scheduled at the same time. After that, you are clear to go."
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Michael Baylor on 04/13/2018 09:07 pm
OCISLY is departing!

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-80.619/centery:28.411/zoom:16
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Lewis007 on 04/14/2018 09:15 am
Attached are a few more TESS goodies:
- NASA factsheet
- Orbital factsheet
- two decals
- two posters
- TESS coloring book (for those with kids)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Ronsmytheiii on 04/14/2018 10:29 am
As of yesterday, 4/13 the TEL/Core had been removed from the pad and is in the HIF for Payload integration, per update from Planet satellite:

https://bit.ly/2qvNBas
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/14/2018 03:45 pm
L-2 launch weather forecast is basically unchanged, still 80% GO:

Quote
Launch day probability of violating launch weather constraints: 20%
Primary concern(s): Liftoff Winds
   
Delay day probability of violating launch weather constraints: <10%
Primary concern(s): Liftoff Winds
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/14/2018 05:23 pm
Quote
A final picture of @NASA_TESS, @NASA's next #exoplanet hunting mission, before it was enclosed within the @SpaceX #Falcon9 for launch! Go #TESS!

https://twitter.com/nasa_tess/status/985185926086299648
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/15/2018 01:41 pm
L-1 launch weather forecast is basically unchanged, still 80% GO:

Quote
Launch day probability of violating launch weather constraints: 20%
Primary concern(s): Liftoff Winds
   
Delay day probability of violating launch weather constraints: <10%
Primary concern(s): Liftoff Winds
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Michael Baylor on 04/15/2018 03:36 pm
Key points from SpaceX's Hans Koenigsmann at a NASA Social event a few moments ago.
 -  Confirmed landing on OCISLY
 -  Second stage will perform an initial burn, then coast for about 40 minutes, then do a second burn before deploying TESS. Finally, a third burn will dispose the second stage into a hyperbolic escape trajectory.
 -  The catch portion of fairing recovery is tested on the west coast. However, they have the same parachute system on TESS and will attempt to softly land a fairing in the water.
 -  SpaceX is taking this mission very seriously and is excited about the mission. TESS hunts for planets and SpaceX wants to make life multi-planetary...

Edit: I forgot an important one!
  - The plan is for this booster to fly again on the next CRS mission pending NASA approval.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:22 pm
Briefing participants arriving.  Briefing will start at 1:30p EDT.

There are 6 briefing participants.  That might be a record for a pre-launch news conference.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:32 pm
Sandra:  Taking about history of NASA's high science, low cost missions. TESS continues that.

Nearby stars are the targets of TESS.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:34 pm
Jeff (Project Manager).  Talks about partnerships with Orbital ATK and MIT.

Ready to go.

TESS is a bridge between what we've learn of exoplanets to date and where we're headed.

Kepler only stared at one portion of the sky and found thousands of planets.

TESS will now do full sky survey and enable future exploration by creating a catelogue of near-Earth exoplanets and potentially life-harboring worlds.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:35 pm
Orbital ATK rep:

31st spacecraft Orbital ATK has delivered to NASA for science missions. 

Spacecraft sep. 44 minutes after launch.  Functional checkouts over 5 days.  8 days after launch, turn on science instruments.

Lunar flyby on 16 May.  12 June, TESS in its operational orbit.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:38 pm
Omar: NASA LSP.

LRR just wrapped.  All is well.  Go for launch.

TESS is small but powerful. 

F9 got here a month ago.  Mission dress rehersal last Monday.  All went well.  Flight Readiness Review Friday and previous Static Fire all went well.

Everything is ready for launch.

Sometime after midnight, pending weather, F9 will rollout of HIF to the pad. 

Once vertical, TESS will be powered up on ground power.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:41 pm
Hans: Space excited to launch TESS.  Big mission for them.  Last NASA science mission was Jason 3 on F9, more than 30 F9 flights ago.

Trans-lunar orbit.  2 burn main mission with additional burn to dispose spacecraft.

First burn is GEO transfer burn.  Coast for 40 minutes.  2nd burn, and deploy TESS. 

1st stage is OCISLY landing.  That 24th overall recovery, if all goes well.

8th mission so far this year.

Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:42 pm
Mike (weather):

Thankful we're not launch tonight.  (laughs)

Strong fronts moving through.

Front will arrive at 3p.  Thunderstorms begin at 6p-10p.  By midnight, showers have diminished and we'll be ready to roll.

80% GO forecast for launch tomorrow.  Liftoff winds are the main concern.

If we delay to Tuesday, 90%+ chance of GO weather.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/15/2018 05:45 pm
Our Chris gets first question and appears to be sporting Star Trek Discovery (which would be just like him)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:46 pm
Hans talks about link between TESS and multi-planetary species of SpaceX.

Launch every day from 16-19 - 21-26.

If not off by 26th, TESS stands down for InSight.

TESS has opportunities in May and June, too if needed.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:49 pm
Nominal rollout at midnight EDT.  Have 3-4 hrs of contingency time in there in case weather is still iffy at midnight.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:50 pm
Mission's orbit is not difficult for Falcon 9.  Well within rocket's capabilities.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:54 pm
Main concerns for weather at rollout is exposure to moisture and lightning.  Winds at launch can be up to 30 kts and be fine.  Ground winds are predicted to be near the max allowed.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 05:55 pm
Payload fairing will to be recovered (attempted).  But no catching the fairing.  So a floating fairing.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/15/2018 06:05 pm
Hans confirmed earlier that this is the last new block 4 S1, although expect to refly a couple of block 4s after this launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 06:05 pm
Falcon 9 hold capability IN GENERAL (not for this mission): Could hold after RP-1 load starts and before LOX load.  Once LOX load starts, not hold or adjustment capability.


For TESS, 30 second launch window is for COLA (Collision Avoidance).  Should a COLA be needed, they can shift the launch time by as much as 30 seconds to the right.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 06:15 pm
Next up is science briefing at 3p EDT.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 07:02 pm
Science briefing

TESS looking for exoplanets around nearest, brightest stars.

TESS will find planets with 4 cameras to monitor nearly the entire sky.  TESS will detect transiting exoplanets.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/15/2018 07:07 pm
TESS is designed to find the exoplanets and then hand off exploration/confirmation of them to ground-based telescopes at first, and the James Webb when it launches No Earlier Than 2020.

Professional and amateur astronomers will have access to the TESS data.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Mapperuo on 04/15/2018 08:32 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeejXEYkPxQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zPuashuEfE
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: theinternetftw on 04/15/2018 10:12 pm
Transcript of the Pre-Launch News Conference (https://gist.github.com/theinternetftw/b9fc96f1d937993ac8a4970b2729bb41)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: tvg98 on 04/15/2018 10:50 pm
Press kit and patch.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Robotbeat on 04/15/2018 11:11 pm
Elon: “SpaceX will try to bring rocket upper stage back from orbital velocity using a giant party balloon”

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/985654333860601856?s=21
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Robotbeat on 04/15/2018 11:25 pm
Elon: “SpaceX will try to bring rocket upper stage back from orbital velocity using a giant party balloon”

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/985654333860601856?s=21
Umm... what?


Discussion of the mission-related specifics in the discussion thread (party balloon starts here: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36349.msg1810827#msg1810827 ).
Edit/gongora:  This has nothing to do with TESS.  Discussion goes into the second stage reuse thread.

General F9 second stage reuse in this thread: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42637.msg1810828#msg1810828

EDIT/Robotbeat:Gongora is correct. TESS’s upper stage to be disposed of via Earth escape, so it won’t reenter.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jebbo on 04/16/2018 01:35 am
Revised science yields from Barclay et al:

A Revised Exoplanet Yield from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)


Quote
The MIT-led Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has a goal of detecting terrestrial-mass planets orbiting stars bright enough for mass determination via ground-based radial velocity observations. Here we present estimates of how many exoplanets the TESS mission will detect, physical properties of the detected planets, and the properties of the stars that those planets orbit. This work uses stars drawn from the TESS Input Catalog Candidate Target List and revises yields from prior studies that were based on Galactic models. We model the TESS observing strategy to select approximately 200,000 stars at 2-minute cadence, while the remaining stars are observed at 30-min cadence in full-frame image data. We place zero or more planets in orbit around each star, with physical properties following measured exoplanet occurrence rates, and use the TESS noise model to predict the derived properties of the detected exoplanets. In the TESS 2-minute cadence mode we estimate that TESS will find 1250+/-70 exoplanets (90% confidence), including 250 smaller than 2 Earth-radii. Furthermore, we predict an additional 3200 planets will be found in full-frame image data orbiting bright dwarf stars and more than 10,000 around fainter stars. We predict that TESS will find 500 planets orbiting M-dwarfs, but the majority of planets will orbit stars larger than the Sun. Our simulated sample of planets contains hundreds of small planets amenable to radial velocity follow-up, potentially more than tripling the number of planets smaller than 4 Earth-radii with mass measurements. This sample of simulated planets is available for use in planning follow-up observations and analyses.

arxiv paper (https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.05050)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/16/2018 05:55 am
https://youtu.be/aY-0uBIYYKk (https://youtu.be/aY-0uBIYYKk)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/16/2018 12:15 pm
Quote
The @SpaceX #Falcon9 for @NASA_TESS is vertical on SLC-40 @NASAKennedy. Go #TESS

https://twitter.com/nasa_tess/status/985850610565156864

Edit to add 2nd shot: https://twitter.com/nasa_tess/status/985858273164365825
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/16/2018 01:59 pm
Photos from SpaceX website
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/16/2018 02:55 pm
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/04/tess-launch-mission-search-near-earth-exoplanets/

Launch article by Chris Gebhardt
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/16/2018 07:21 pm
Quote
My first round of prelaunch images are in of the brand new Block 4 Falcon 9 with @NASA_TESS aboard, preparing for launch tonight from Florida at 6:31pm. #spacex #falcon9 #nasa #TESSLaunch

https://twitter.com/_tomcross_/status/985957000185106433
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/16/2018 07:32 pm
T-3hrs and COUNTING!  Clocks are now counting down to the 18:32:07 EDT (22:32:07 UTC) launch of TESS on a Falcon 9.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/16/2018 07:46 pm
Clocks here at Kennedy have stopped.  If the count has indeed stopped, we will not be launching today.  Will update when I have more.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jcm on 04/16/2018 07:47 pm
Clocks here at Kennedy have stopped.  If the count has indeed stopped, we will not be launching today.  Will update when I have more.

Folks on the VIP bus report they have been told it's a scrub
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/16/2018 07:50 pm
Scrubbed for today.  Waiting on turnaround information.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/16/2018 07:57 pm
Delay is at least 48hrs to Wednesday at 18:51 EDT (22:51 UTC).
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/16/2018 08:20 pm
Quote
Standing down today to conduct additional GNC analysis, and teams are now working towards a targeted launch of @NASA_TESS on Wednesday, April 18.

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/985975566535831552
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/16/2018 08:22 pm
TESS's daily launch times.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Elthiryel on 04/16/2018 09:28 pm
45th Weather Squadron has released an updated weather forecast.

>90% GO for a launch day (main concern: Cumulus Cloud Rule), ULWs at 55 knots
90% GO for a delay day (main concern: Thick Cloud Layer Rule), ULWs at 65 knots
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: vaporcobra on 04/17/2018 12:40 am
GO Searcher returned to Port Canaveral about an hour ago, presumably to ferry crew in light of the 48 hour delay.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/17/2018 02:55 pm
L-1 launch forecast still looks excellent, 90+% GO:

Quote
Launch day probability of violating launch weather constraints: <10%
Primary concern(s): Cumulus Cloud Rule
Delay day probability of violating launch weather constraints: 10%
Primary concern(s): Thick Cloud Layer Rule
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/17/2018 05:29 pm
Quote
FYI, the @SpaceX Falcon 9 for @NASA_TESS is horizontal on Pad 40.

https://twitter.com/wordsmithfl/status/986286533220106240
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Craig_VG on 04/17/2018 06:44 pm
Go Searcher is heading back out of port, a good sign for tomorrow.

Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/17/2018 08:26 pm
Quote
Here’s to the SpaceX teams working their asses off to get this Falcon 9 ready to launch TESS toward the Moon tomorrow night. This rocket is a work of art and deserves hi-res pano treatment. From me and @Teslarati, enjoy.   #spacex #falcon9 @NASA_TESS

https://twitter.com/_tomcross_/status/986339061475565568
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/17/2018 08:29 pm
Updated airspace closure area and launch hazard area.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: vaporcobra on 04/18/2018 04:04 am
Aaaaaaand GO Searcher is back at Port Canaveral.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisC on 04/18/2018 04:42 am
Raul doesn't think that Go Searcher is involved with TESS.  I have no opinion, just relaying some context from another thread:

GO Searcher returned to Port Canaveral about an hour ago, presumably to ferry crew in light of the 48 hour delay.
Yesterday's 12-hour GoSearcher cruise to approx. 50km off the port doesn't really concern TESS mission, but most likely another recovery operation training with Dragon2 test capsule.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Elthiryel on 04/18/2018 08:23 am
SpaceX has released an updated press kit. Launch time and mission timeline have been adjusted.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: tvg98 on 04/18/2018 12:35 pm
Quote
#Falcon9 is back on #pad40 raised vertical with @NASA_TESS exoplanet hunter. Targeting launch this evening at 651 pm ET by @SpaceX for @NASA
https://twitter.com/ken_kremer/status/986583101865328647 (https://twitter.com/ken_kremer/status/986583101865328647)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Ben the Space Brit on 04/18/2018 12:43 pm
Attempt 2 update thread or just continue here with a revised title?
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/18/2018 12:46 pm
Quote
Sunrise @NASAKennedy and @NASA_TESS inside the @SpaceX #Falcon9 is vertical once again. The team is ready for today's launch attempt. Go #TESS Go #Falcon9!

https://twitter.com/NASA_TESS/status/986586188336259072
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/18/2018 01:58 pm
Quote
All systems and weather are go for Falcon 9’s launch of @NASA_TESS today at 6:51 p.m. EDT, or 22:51 UTC. http://spacex.com/webcast

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/986603725140537344
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 07:29 pm
Our exact launch window today is 18:51:31 - 18:52:01 EDT (22:51:31 - 22:52:01 UTC)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: kraisee on 04/18/2018 07:41 pm
Raul doesn't think that Go Searcher is involved with TESS.  I have no opinion, just relaying some context from another thread:

GO Searcher returned to Port Canaveral about an hour ago, presumably to ferry crew in light of the 48 hour delay.
Yesterday's 12-hour GoSearcher cruise to approx. 50km off the port doesn't really concern TESS mission, but most likely another recovery operation training with Dragon2 test capsule.

Go Quest is out in the range.   Also Hawk is there right now too, along with two other unnamed vessels.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-77.6/centery:28.8/zoom:11

Ross.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 07:52 pm
T-3hrs and COUNTING.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 08:51 pm
T-2hrs and COUNTING.  Everything continues to proceed smoothly with the count at this time.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 09:21 pm
T-90 mins.  All remains well with the count at this time.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 09:38 pm
T-73mins - Launch team being polled to report their readiness to proceed into prop load.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 09:40 pm
Go for prop load reported.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 09:41 pm
T-70mins: RP-1 fueling process for the Falcon 9 first stage is now underway at SLC-40.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 09:45 pm
Getting a picture on NASA TV.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 09:51 pm
T-1hr and COUNTING.  Everything is proceeding to the plan right now with fueling for an on-time launch at 18:51:31 EDT (22:51:31 UTC).

Remember, this is basically an instantaneous window.  There is, practically speaking, no hold time available.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 09:51 pm
T-1 hour. The picture looks still, but you can see movement in some places.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 09:57 pm
Upper Level Winds were predicted to be 50 kts.  They're at 45 kts right now.  Well below the limit of concern for speed and/or sheer.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 10:01 pm
T-50mins.  All still well.  RP-1 is going to plan.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:02 pm
T-50 minutes. You can now see some vapour to the right of the LOX tank at left of the picture.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 10:10 pm
T-41mins.  All still proceeding to the automated script.  NASA LSP team has been polled and is ready to proceed into LOX loading at T-35mins.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:11 pm
T-40 minutes. From the shadows, I believe this is the view looking South. Only action has been two birds flying to the small tower on the far left.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Bubbinski on 04/18/2018 10:11 pm
At the causeway
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:16 pm
T-35 minutes. LOX loading should be starting now.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 10:16 pm
T-35mins.  LOX load has started.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: 2megs on 04/18/2018 10:17 pm
From the Saturn V Center, looking east-southeast, with my cellphone held up to some binoculars because I'm quality like that.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 10:21 pm
Some small GOX venting at the base of the F9.  LOX load process proceeding well.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:21 pm
T-30 minutes. Not seeing any vapour from the vehicle yet.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/18/2018 10:21 pm
Quote
What is it with arriving on scene on the VAB roof and spotting boats?? We’ve got a picture-perfect @WaywardBoat sailboat right over top of the rocket from our vantage point, moving north. #SpaceX #TESS don’t do this to us wayward...

https://twitter.com/TrevorMahlmann/status/986730307918364673
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 10:26 pm
T-25mins.  All proceeding well.  It's very quiet on the lD loop, which is good and exactly what we want.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:26 pm
T-25 minutes. NASA coverage starting soon. Was seeing vapour on the vehicle just before.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Bubbinski on 04/18/2018 10:30 pm
Vapor cloud venting
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:31 pm
T-20 minutes. NASA coverage has started.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: cletus on 04/18/2018 10:32 pm
SpaceX FM is on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY-0uBIYYKk
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 10:32 pm
Starting process to transition TESS to internal power.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:33 pm
Quick facts.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: chalz on 04/18/2018 10:33 pm
Two antenna in Canberra are pointing up, waiting for TESS. https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 10:34 pm
Eastern Range confirms GO FOR LAUNCH.  No issues.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:34 pm
90% go.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:35 pm
Funky music has started.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:36 pm
T-15 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:37 pm
SpaceX report on NASA TV.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:38 pm
Shot from droneship.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:39 pm
T-12 minutes. SpaceX coverage has started.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:41 pm
T-11 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Lar on 04/18/2018 10:41 pm
SpaceX coverage has started
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:42 pm
T-10 minutes. 52nd Falcon 9 launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:43 pm
T-9 minutes. RP-1 is fully loaded.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:44 pm
T-8 minutes. Weather looking good.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/18/2018 10:44 pm
Remember, from this point onwards. Only updates, only from allocated people (like Steven) and all post launch congrats go in the party and discussion threads. Keeps it nice and clean here and avoids too many duplicates.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:45 pm
T-7 minutes. Engine chill should be starting now.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:46 pm
T-6 minutes. Apogee is 2/3 of the way to the Moon.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:47 pm
T-5 minutes. Internal sequences have started.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:48 pm
T-4 minutes. Payload on internal power.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:49 pm
T-3 minutes. Stage 1 LOX load complete.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:50 pm
T-2 minutes. Stage 2 LOX load complete.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:51 pm
T-1 minute. AFTS is ready for launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:52 pm
Liftoff!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:53 pm
T+1 minute.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/18/2018 10:53 pm
LAUNCH!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:54 pm
T+2 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:55 pm
Stage separation.

T+3 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/18/2018 10:55 pm
Nice booster in the flip in the background.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:56 pm
Fairing separation.

T+4 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Bubbinski on 04/18/2018 10:57 pm
Launch from the causeway!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:57 pm
T+5 minutes. Stage 2 burn is nominal.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:58 pm
T+6 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 10:59 pm
Entry burn.

T+7 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:00 pm
T+8 minutes. Landing burn.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:01 pm
Touchdown!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/18/2018 11:01 pm
So smooth!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:02 pm
SECO.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:03 pm
LOX icicle floating away.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:05 pm
LOS Bermuda expected.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:07 pm
T+15 minutes. Upcoming events.

00:43:10 2nd stage engine restarts
00:44:03 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2)
00:49:35 TESS deployment
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:12 pm
T+20 minutes. Heading towards Africa.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:17 pm
T+25 minutes. Over Africa.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:19 pm
AOS.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:22 pm
T+30 minutes. Over the jungles of Africa.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/18/2018 11:24 pm
Quote
The SpaceX launch of TESS was picture perfect this evening. More to come! @NASA_TESS @Teslarati @elonmusk #SpaceX #Falcon9

https://twitter.com/_tomcross_/status/986746225490788352
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:24 pm
LOX tank!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:27 pm
T+35 minutes. Still over Africa.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: SciNews on 04/18/2018 11:29 pm
SpaceX feed Falcon 9 launches TESS & Falcon 9 first stage landing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmyzj-HfPSU
NASA feed TESS launch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfZ2y3-2tc0
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 11:31 pm
AOS Mauritius.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 11:31 pm
MVac engine chill has started for re-ignition.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:32 pm
T+40 minutes. Over Madagascar. Second ignition in three minutes and 10 seconds. MVac engine chill has started.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:33 pm
Two minutes to second ignition.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:34 pm
One minute to second ignition.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 11:34 pm
Stage 2 RE-IGNITION!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:35 pm
Ignition!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 11:35 pm
Stage 2 SECO-2.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 11:36 pm
Good transfer orbit CONFIRMED!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Bubbinski on 04/18/2018 11:36 pm
2nd stage reignition from the press center
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:36 pm
Cutoff!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:37 pm
T+45 minutes. Separation in four minutes 35 seconds.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:38 pm
Another LOX icicle floating away at top right.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:39 pm
LOS Mauritius expected.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:40 pm
One minutes to separation. AOS WA.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 11:41 pm
TESS separation!!!

TESS is on its way to a 17 May lunar flyby and entry into its final science orbit, which it will occur on 17 June.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:41 pm
Separation!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Chris Bergin on 04/18/2018 11:41 pm
S/C Sep for TESS, following launch from SLC-40 on SpaceX's Falcon 9 B1045.1 (which also successfully landed on OCISLY).

ARTICLE by Chris Gebhardt
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/04/tess-launch-mission-search-near-earth-exoplanets/


--

Great work by Steven, Chris G. Justin and all!

Congrats and non-updates into the other threads. You can leave a like of five in the posts of the above live coverage people :)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:43 pm
Wrapping up.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:44 pm
NASA still providing coverage! Now showing a TESS video.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:45 pm
Australia has a good view now.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Rocket Science on 04/18/2018 11:46 pm
Solar array deploy next...
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:48 pm
Solar array deploy in about two minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 11:51 pm
Solar array deployment in work!

And deployment complete!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: SciNews on 04/18/2018 11:52 pm
NASA TESS deployment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CC6VkOtpxU
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:52 pm
AOS Auckland. Still waiting on confirmation of solar array deploy.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:52 pm
Wing 1 has been successfully deployed.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: mdeep on 04/18/2018 11:53 pm
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/TESS/n-9VGpsC/i-JGF67Tv/0/a10363c7/L/i-JGF67Tv-L.jpg)

(https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/TESS/n-9VGpsC/i-3qFRbT5/0/81eb8cf9/L/i-3qFRbT5-L.jpg)

(https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/TESS/n-9VGpsC/i-hps7k9r/0/64683979/L/i-hps7k9r-L.jpg)

(https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/TESS/n-9VGpsC/i-CGzKb3t/0/bc9fb45a/L/i-CGzKb3t-L.jpg)

(https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/TESS/n-9VGpsC/i-JLHzZxN/0/055575a5/L/i-JLHzZxN-L.jpg)

Hopefully picking up remotes shortly here.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/18/2018 11:54 pm
Second solar array is now DEPLOYED!!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/18/2018 11:55 pm
Confirmation of second wing deploy.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Rocket Science on 04/18/2018 11:57 pm
TESS power positive...
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: chalz on 04/18/2018 11:58 pm
The Deep Space Network appears to have made contact with TESS
https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
Now both antenna.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/19/2018 12:00 am
Now flying over the Pacific ocean.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/19/2018 12:02 am
Over to NASA Edge. Had several rounds of applause.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/19/2018 12:04 am
Quote
Welcome to the DSN @NASA_TESS! We've got DATA from the spacecraft! eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

https://twitter.com/shannonmstirone/status/986753133102612480
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: catdlr on 04/19/2018 12:05 am
Perhaps news later on second stage experimental reentry?
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/19/2018 12:06 am
"Wow! Are we excited?!"

Only worked one minor item during count.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Rocket Science on 04/19/2018 12:06 am
Expecting flyby on May 15-16th...
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: pb2000 on 04/19/2018 12:09 am
NASA coverage wrapping up
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/19/2018 12:11 am
Wrapping up coverage. Launch replays next.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Michael Baylor on 04/19/2018 12:17 am
Tim Dunn of NASA LSP: The Falcon 9 continues to demonstrate what a reliable ride it has become. It was the second LSP launch on a Falcon 9. To see all the hard work from LSP throughout the certification process [of Falcon 9] rewarded means so much.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/19/2018 12:18 am
Quote
Liftoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 with TESS. #spacex #falcon9

https://twitter.com/_tomcross_/status/986755916405067776
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/19/2018 12:20 am
First set of replays.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/19/2018 12:20 am
Quote
Thank you for joining us for today's successful launch of #Falcon9 🚀, lifting #TESS 🛰 up to hunt for #exoplanets around the ✨ visible from our Solar System. We hope you enjoyed this beautiful launch for science!

https://twitter.com/nasa_lsp/status/986760893156519936
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 04/19/2018 12:28 am
End of NASA coverage.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Mapperuo on 04/19/2018 12:43 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcysRnT3p4Q
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: MATTBLAK on 04/19/2018 01:01 am
Thanks for putting up the replays. Darn; I missed the live one :(
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: redliox on 04/19/2018 01:05 am
TESS separation!!!

TESS is on its way to a 17 May lunar flyby and entry into its final science orbit, which it will occur on 17 June.

YAY!  In time for my birthday!  ;D
"Wow! Are we excited?!"

Very!
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Elthiryel on 04/19/2018 08:12 am
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/986778115371347968?s=21
Quote
Jonathan McDowell @planet4589

The TESS Falcon 9 second stage has completed its escape burn; it will enter an 0.82 x 1.0 AU x 0.3 deg solar orbit on Apr 27
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 04/19/2018 08:18 am
April 19, 2018
RELEASE 18-026

NASA Planet Hunter on Its Way to Orbit
 
 
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched on the first-of-its-kind mission to find worlds beyond our solar system, including some that could support life.

TESS, which is expected to find thousands of new exoplanets orbiting nearby stars, lifted off at 6:51 p.m. EDT Wednesday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. At 7:53 p.m., the twin solar arrays that will power the spacecraft successfully deployed.

“We are thrilled TESS is on its way to help us discover worlds we have yet to imagine, worlds that could possibly be habitable, or harbor life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “With missions like the James Webb Space Telescope to help us study the details of these planets, we are ever the closer to discovering whether we are alone in the universe.”

Over the course of several weeks, TESS will use six thruster burns to travel in a series of progressively elongated orbits to reach the Moon, which will provide a gravitational assist so that TESS can transfer into its 13.7-day final science orbit around Earth. After approximately 60 days of check-out and instrument testing, the spacecraft will begin its work.

“One critical piece for the science return of TESS is the high data rate associated with its orbit,” said George Ricker, TESS principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research in Cambridge. “Each time the spacecraft passes close to Earth, it will transmit full-frame images taken with the cameras. That’s one of the unique things TESS brings that was not possible before.”

For this two-year survey mission, scientists divided the sky into 26 sectors. TESS will use four unique wide-field cameras to map 13 sectors encompassing the southern sky during its first year of observations and 13 sectors of the northern sky during the second year, altogether covering 85 percent of the sky.

TESS will be watching for phenomena called transits. A transit occurs when a planet passes in front of its star from the observer’s perspective, causing a periodic and regular dip in the star’s brightness. More than 78 percent of the approximately 3,700 confirmed exoplanets have been found using transits.

NASA’s Kepler spacecraft found more than 2,600 exoplanets, most orbiting faint stars between 300 and 3,000 light-years from Earth, using this same method of watching for transits. TESS will focus on stars between 30 and 300 light-years away and 30 to 100 times brighter than Kepler’s targets.

The brightness of these target stars will allow researchers to use spectroscopy, the study of the absorption and emission of light, to determine a planet’s mass, density and atmospheric composition. Water, and other key molecules, in its atmosphere can give us hints about a planets’ capacity to harbor life.

“The targets TESS finds are going to be fantastic subjects for research for decades to come,” said Stephen Rinehart, TESS project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s the beginning of a new era of exoplanet research.”

Through the TESS Guest Investigator Program, the worldwide scientific community will be able to conduct research beyond TESS’s core mission in areas ranging from exoplanet characterization to stellar astrophysics, distant galaxies and solar system science.

TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT and managed by Goddard. George Ricker, of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, serves as principal investigator for the mission. TESS’s four wide-field cameras were developed by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission.

For more information on TESS, go to:

https://www.nasa.gov/tess
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 04/19/2018 08:18 am
Orbital ATK-Built Planet-Hunting Satellite Successfully Deployed for NASA

TESS Satellite to Search for Nearby Extra-Solar Planets on Multi-Year Mission

Company Delivers 31st Science Spacecraft for NASA’s Research Programs

Dulles, Virginia 18 April 2018 – Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, announced that the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), built by the company for NASA, was successfully launched today aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. As the first-ever exoplanet satellite to perform a survey of the entire sky, TESS will identify planets ranging from Earth-sized to Jupiter-sized, orbiting a wide range of stellar types and in various orbital regimes. The principal goal of the TESS mission is to use four wide-field cameras to detect small planets around bright host stars in the solar neighborhood so that detailed characterizations of the planets and their atmospheres can be performed.

Liftoff occurred at 6:51 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The satellite separated successfully from the launch vehicle 49 minutes into the mission. Orbital ATK completed the satellite’s post-launch health checks and configuration activities in preparation for a series of in-space maneuvers, including a lunar gravitational assist, to reach its targeted highly-elliptical orbit. Once in-orbit testing has been completed, TESS will begin its initial two-year mission approximately 60 days after launch.

“The data from our first tests show TESS is in good health and performing as expected early in its mission,” said Steve Krein, Vice President of Science and Environmental Satellite Programs at Orbital ATK. “TESS adds to our growing list of successful scientific space missions that have helped us study the Earth and Sun, explore the solar system, and probe the mysteries of the universe. This successful launch marks the 31st science spacecraft we have developed and built for NASA over the last 35 years, and continues to demonstrate Orbital ATK’s expertise in delivering the high-quality satellites our customers expect.”

Orbital ATK has a rich history of designing and manufacturing small space science satellites. From a small, low-cost astrophysics mission like GALEX, used to explore the origin and evolution of galaxies and stars, to Earth-imaging satellites such as the Landsat series, which have been monitoring surface changes for over 45 years, to the Dawn spacecraft, the first deep-space mission to orbit two interplanetary bodies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the company’s robust spacecraft platforms and comprehensive engineering know-how have enabled many of these satellites to far exceed their design lifetimes.

TESS was built at Orbital ATK’s Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Dulles, Virginia and is based on the company’s LEOStar-2™ bus, a flight-proven and flexible satellite platform that accommodates a wide variety of missions. Continuing the company’s legacy for delivering high-performance science and environmental spacecraft, several similar satellites are now in production for upcoming NASA missions that include the ICON heliophysics explorer, also built on a LEOStar-2 platform, as well as the Earth science ICESAT-2 and Landsat-9 satellites and the JPSS-2 weather spacecraft which use the larger LEOStar-3™ bus.

TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and managed by the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 04/19/2018 08:26 am
Launch as seen from Orlando airport, photo taken by: G. v/d Haar
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 04/19/2018 08:29 am
TESS images from KSC media more here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasakennedy/albums/72157690487715892
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: jacqmans on 04/19/2018 08:31 am
SpaceX TESS images, more here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/19/2018 09:03 am
The other SpaceX images (other photographers have been told they can’t collect their remote cameras until this morning)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/19/2018 11:04 am
As I nearly posted in the wrong thread, think it's worth pointing out that there's a separate Space Science section thread for TESS updates:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31927.0 (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31927.0)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/19/2018 01:24 pm
Remote cameras npw being collected:

Quote
Falcon 9’s Merlin 1D engines lift it and #NASA’s #TESS from SLC-40 yesterday evening. What an incredible display of power! @elonmusk #SpaceX

https://twitter.com/johnkrausphotos/status/986958030066593792
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/19/2018 03:26 pm
A couple more unusual shots/angles:

Quote
Hey @SouthwestAir , thank you for the excellent timing. During the rocket launch yesterday one of your flights approaching @MCO passed into frame.
https://twitter.com/GrantWTrent/status/986955419728908288 (https://twitter.com/GrantWTrent/status/986955419728908288)

Quote
Falcon 9’s golden shower rains upon me 😁
https://twitter.com/_TomCross_/status/986969497792901120 (https://twitter.com/_TomCross_/status/986969497792901120)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: catdlr on 04/19/2018 07:57 pm
UP CLOSE VIEWS of the NASA TESS satellite launch

AmericaSpace
Published on Apr 19, 2018

https://youtu.be/lBoCVE4NqR8?t=001

https://youtu.be/lBoCVE4NqR8
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: mdeep on 04/19/2018 09:15 pm
Got my remote photos in.

Thanks to Mike Howard and Ryan Chylinski for picking them up after the unexpected delay to this morning.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Raul on 04/20/2018 08:45 am
Actual TESS orbit before first apogee burn according to Space-track.

NORAD   SATNAME   INTLDES      PERIOD      INCL   APOGEE   PERIGEE
43435   TESS         2018-038A   10244.32   29.54   299450   296
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: abaddon on 04/20/2018 08:51 pm
The TESS launch webcast is now available on SpaceX's youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY-0uBIYYKk
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ZachS09 on 04/20/2018 10:39 pm
Sped-up version of Core B1045's landing on OCISLY. Second time such video was released; first was Thaicom 8 in May 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-recix62-OQ&feature=push-u-sub&attr_tag=6c4hLkiMOVzYxKp4-6
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: vaporcobra on 04/22/2018 06:18 pm
I was annoyed by the timelapse when a 6+ minute uninterrupted view was available, so I cut my own :) Perhaps the first fully uninterrupted view of S1 from MECO to landing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ZUxr7xc1E
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/23/2018 03:34 pm
https://youtu.be/MQSxOMfV3Eg (https://youtu.be/MQSxOMfV3Eg)
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Star One on 05/18/2018 07:32 pm
NASA’s New Planet Hunter Snaps Initial Test Image, Swings by Moon Toward Final Orbit

NASA’s next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is one step closer to searching for new worlds after successfully completing a lunar flyby on May 17. The spacecraft passed about 5,000 miles from the Moon, which provided a gravity assist that helped TESS sail toward its final working orbit.

As part of camera commissioning, the science team snapped a two-second test exposure using one of the four TESS cameras. The image, centered on the southern constellation Centaurus, reveals more than 200,000 stars. The edge of the Coalsack Nebula is in the right upper corner and the bright star Beta Centauri is visible at the lower left edge. TESS is expected to cover more than 400 times as much sky as shown in this image with its four cameras during its initial two-year search for exoplanets. A  science-quality image, also referred to as a “first light” image, is expected to be released in June.

TESS will undergo one final thruster burn on May 30 to enter its science orbit around Earth. This highly elliptical orbit will maximize the amount of sky the spacecraft can image, allowing it to continuously monitor large swaths of the sky. TESS is expected to begin science operations in mid-June after reaching this orbit and completing camera calibrations.

Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on April 18, TESS is the next step in NASA’s search for planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. The mission will observe nearly the entire sky to monitor nearby, bright stars in search of transits — periodic dips in a star’s brightness caused by a planet passing in front of the star. TESS is expected to find thousands of exoplanets. NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2020, will provide important follow-up observations of some of the most promising TESS-discovered exoplanets, allowing scientists to study their atmospheres.

TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. George Ricker of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, based in Dulles, Virginia; NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley; the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. The TESS science instruments were jointly developed by MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/embargo20180518fordisplay4flat8x10300dpiedit1textflat.jpg
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Yeknom-Ecaps on 05/24/2018 12:59 pm
Was there any fairing recovery? I have not seen anything on a recovery in the posts since before the launch. Thanks.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: deruch on 05/24/2018 02:48 pm
Was there any fairing recovery? I have not seen anything on a recovery in the posts since before the launch. Thanks.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36349.msg1819063#msg1819063

And subsequent.  Any further comments should be made in the discussion thread.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 07/02/2018 05:59 pm
Quote
@LucaPlanets
9 hours ago

The orbit adjust burns of @NASA_TESS were 10 times more precise than expected! It was so good that the spacecraft has fuel for >20 years of stable operations (!!) #Exoplanets2
Title: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Star One on 07/27/2018 07:40 pm
NASA’s TESS Spacecraft Starts Science Operations

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has started its search for planets around nearby stars, officially beginning science operations on July 25, 2018. TESS is expected to transmit its first series of science data back to Earth in August, and thereafter periodically every 13.5 days, once per orbit, as the spacecraft makes it closest approach to Earth. The TESS Science Team will begin searching the data for new planets immediately after the first series arrives.

“I’m thrilled that our new planet hunter mission is ready to start scouring our solar system’s neighborhood for new worlds,” said Paul Hertz, NASA Astrophysics division director at Headquarters, Washington. “Now that we know there are more planets than stars in our universe, I look forward to the strange, fantastic worlds we’re bound to discover.”

TESS is NASA’s latest satellite to search for planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. The mission will spend the next two years monitoring the nearest and brightest stars for periodic dips in their light. These events, called transits, suggest that a planet may be passing in front of its star. TESS is expected to find thousands of planets using this method, some of which could potentially support life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evHF_mnIdj4

TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. George Ricker of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Northrop Grumman, based in Falls Church, Virginia; NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley; the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts; MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts; and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission.

For the latest updates on TESS, visit nasa.gov/tess.
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Don S on 07/28/2018 02:01 am
https://tess.mit.edu/news/nasas-tess-spacecraft-starts-science-operations/
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Lewis007 on 07/28/2018 06:01 am
TESS spotted on July 25
source: http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=146509&PHPSESSID=inrn6k5voa7danbo07pi0n3643
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: Star One on 08/07/2018 06:47 am
NASA’s Planet-Hunting TESS Catches a Comet Before Starting Science

Before NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) started science operations on July 25, 2018, the planet hunter sent back a stunning sequence of serendipitous images showing the motion of a comet. Taken over the course of 17 hours on July 25, these TESS images helped demonstrate the satellite’s ability to collect a prolonged set of stable periodic images covering a broad region of the sky — all critical factors in finding transiting planets orbiting nearby stars.

Over the course of these tests, TESS took images of C/2018 N1, a comet discovered by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) satellite on June 29. The comet, located about 29 million miles (48 million kilometers) from Earth in the southern constellation Piscis Austrinus, is seen to move across the frame from right to left as it orbits the Sun. The comet’s tail, which consists of gases carried away from the comet by an outflow from the Sun called the solar wind, extends to the top of the frame and gradually pivots as the comet glides across the field of view.

https://youtu.be/RnhKBdDanFw

This video is compiled from a series of images taken on July 25 by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. The angular extent of the widest field of view is six degrees. Visible in the images are the comet C/2018 N1, asteroids, variable stars, asteroids and reflected light from Mars. TESS is expected to find thousands of planets around other nearby stars.
Credits: Massachusetts Institute of Technology/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center


In addition to the comet, the images reveal a treasure trove of other astronomical activity. The stars appear to shift between white and black as a result of image processing. The shift also highlights variable stars — which change brightness either as a result of pulsation, rapid rotation, or by eclipsing binary neighbors. Asteroids in our solar system appear as small white dots moving across the field of view. Towards the end of the video, one can see a faint broad arc of light moving across the middle section of the frame from left to right. This is stray light from Mars, which is located outside the frame. The images were taken when Mars was at its brightest near opposition, or its closest distance, to Earth.

These images were taken during a short period near the end of the mission’s commissioning phase, prior to the start of science operations. The movie presents just a small fraction of TESS’s active field of view. The team continues to fine-tune the spacecraft’s performance as it searches for distant worlds.

TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. George Ricker of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Northrop Grumman, based in Falls Church, Virginia; NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley; the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts; MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts; and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission.

Banner image: This sequence is compiled from a series of images taken on July 25 by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. The angular extent of the widest field of view is six degrees. Visible in the images are the comet C/2018 N1, asteroids, variable stars, asteroids and reflected light from Mars. TESS is expected to find thousands of planets around other nearby stars.  Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Title: Re: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 : TESS : April 18, 2018 : Updates
Post by: pb2000 on 09/25/2018 01:49 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrIyqnAFHNs&t=317s