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NASA’s Planet Hunter Tess Goes Into Safe Mode – What We Know at This Time

Illustration of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) at work. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

NASAEstablished in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is "To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity." Its core values are "safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion."” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESSLaunched on April 18, 2018, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope mission to search nearby stars for undiscovered worlds with a goal of discovering thousands of exoplanets around nearby bright stars.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>TESS) entered into safe mode on Monday, October 10. The spacecraft is in a stable configuration that suspends science observations. A preliminary investigation has revealed that the TESS flight computer experienced a reset.

The TESS operations team reported that science data not yet sent to the ground appears to be safely stored on the satellite. Recovery procedures and investigations are underway to resume normal operations, which could take several days.

An exoplanet

An exoplanet (or extrasolar planet) is a planet that is located outside our Solar System, orbiting around a star other than the Sun. The first suspected scientific detection of an exoplanet occurred in 1988, with the first confirmation of detection coming in 1992.

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>exoplanet or extrasolar planet is any planet beyond our solar system. Although most orbit other stars, free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, orbit the galactic center and are not bound to any star.

TESS launched in April 2018 and has since discovered more than 250 exoplanets – worlds beyond our solar system – and thousands of additional candidates.

NASA promises additional updates as they become available.

TESS has been instrumental in many fascinating discoveries. Some of the most recent include:

Source: SciTechDaily