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
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.
Moving @NASA_TESS into the clean tent @NASAKennedy where it will wait to meet the @SpaceX Falcon 9!
March 19, 2018 MEDIA ADVISORY M18-045Join 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
Going inside NASA’s Clean Room for a rare look at a SpaceX payloadBy TomCrossPosted on April 8, 2018NASA 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.
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).
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
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.