Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

TESS satellite

Names| Explorer 95
TESS
MIDEX-7
Mission type| Space observatory[1][2]
Operator| NASA / MIT
COSPAR ID| 2018-038A
SATCAT no.| 43435
Website| tess.gsfc.nasa.gov
tess.mit.edu
Mission duration| 2 years (planned)
8 years, 3 months, 26 days (in progress)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft| Explorer XCV
Spacecraft type| Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
Bus| LEOStar-2/750[3]
Manufacturer| Orbital ATK
Launch mass| 362 kg (798 lb) [4]
Dimensions| 3.7 × 1.2 × 1.5 m (12.1 × 3.9 × 4.9 ft)
Power| 530 watts
Start of mission
Launch date| 18 April 2018, 22:51:30 UTC[5]
Rocket| Falcon 9 Block 4 B1045-1
Launch site| Cape Canaveral, SLC-40
Contractor| SpaceX
Entered service| 25 July 2018
Orbital parameters
Reference system| Geocentric orbit
Regime| Highly elliptical orbit
Perigee altitude| 362,600 km (225,300 mi)
Apogee altitude| 405,400 km (251,900 mi)
Inclination| 5.145°
Period| 27.322 days

TESS satellite mission patch

Explorer program

<- IRIS (Explorer 94)

ICON (Explorer 96) ->

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope for NASA's Explorer program, designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method in an area 400 times larger than that covered by the Kepler mission.[6] It was launched on 18 April 2018, atop a Falcon 9 launch vehicle and was placed into a highly elliptical 13.70-day orbit around the Earth.[6][2][7][8][9] The first light image from TESS was taken on 7 August 2018, and released publicly on 17 September 2018.[1][10][11]

In the two-year primary mission, TESS was expected to detect about 1,250 transiting exoplanets orbiting the targeted stars, and an additional 13,000 orbiting stars not targeted but observed.[12] After the end of the primary mission around 4 July 2020, scientists continued to search its data for more planets, while the extended missions acquire additional data. As of 3 May 2026[update], TESS had identified 7,931 candidate exoplanets, of which 885 had been confirmed.[13][14]

The primary mission objective for TESS was to survey the brightest stars near the Earth for transiting exoplanets over a two-year period. The TESS satellite uses an array of wide-field cameras to perform a survey of 85% of the sky. With TESS, it is possible to study the mass, size, density and orbit of a large cohort of small planets, including a sample of rocky planets in the habitable zones of their host stars. TESS provides prime targets for further characterization by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as well as other large ground-based and space-based telescopes of the future. While previous sky surveys with ground-based telescopes have mainly detected giant exoplanets and the Kepler space telescope has mostly found planets around distant stars that are too faint for characterization, TESS finds many small planets around the nearest stars in the sky. TESS records the nearest and brightest main sequence stars hosting transiting exoplanets, which are the most favorable targets for detailed investigations.[15] Detailed information about such planetary systems with hot Jupiters makes it possible to better understand the architecture of such systems.[16][17]

The program is led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with seed funding from Google.[18] On 5 April 2013, it was announced that TESS, along with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), had been selected by NASA for launch.[19][20] On 18 July 2019, after the first year of operation, the southern portion of the survey was completed, and the northern survey was started. The primary mission ended with the completion of the northern survey on 4 July 2020, which was followed by the first extended mission. The first extended mission concluded in September 2022 and the spacecraft entered its second extended mission[21] which should last for another three years.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Mission overview
* 2.1 Orbital dynamics
* 2.2 Science objectives
* 2.3 Asteroseismology
* 2.4 Extended missions
* 3 Launch
* 4 Spacecraft
* 4.1 Operational orbit
* 4.2 Project timeline
* 5 Instruments
* 6 Ground operations
* 7 Stable light source for tests
* 8 Results
* 8.1 C/2018 N1
* 8.2 Pi Mensae
* 8.3 LHS 3844 b
* 8.4 HD 202772 Ab
* 8.5 HD 21749
* 8.6 MAST Data collaboration
* 8.7 Changing to the Northern Sky
* 8.8 DS Tucanae Ab
* 8.9 Gliese 357
* 8.10 Count of exoplanets in 2019
* 8.11 ASASSN-19bt
* 8.12 TOI-700
* 8.13 TOI-1338
* 8.14 HD 108236
* 8.15 TIC 168789840
* 8.16 Count of exoplanets in 2021
* 8.17 TOI-1231 b
* 8.18 Exoplanet search programs
* 8.19 Stellar rotations
* 9 In popular culture
* 10 See also
* 11 References
* 12 Further reading
* 13 External links

## History

The concept of TESS was first discussed in 2005 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO).[22] The genesis of TESS was begun during 2006, when a design was developed from private funding by individuals, Google, and The Kavli Foundation.[23] In 2008, MIT proposed that TESS become a full NASA mission and submitted it for the Small Explorer program at Goddard Space Flight Center,[23] but it was not selected.[24] It was resubmitted in 2010 as an Explorer program mission, and was approved in April 2013 as a Medium Explorer mission.[25][23][26] TESS passed its critical design review (CDR) in 2015, allowing production of the satellite to begin.[23] While Kepler had cost US$640 million at launch, TESS cost only US$200 million (plus US$87 million for launch).[27][28] The mission will find exoplanets that periodically block part of the light from their host stars, events called transits. TESS will survey 200,000 of the brightest stars near the Sun to search for transiting exoplanets. TESS was launched on 18 April 2018, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

In July 2019, an Extended Mission 2020 to 2022 was approved.[29] On 3 January 2020, NASA reported that TESS had discovered its first potentially habitable Earth-sized planet, TOI-700 d.[30]

## Mission overview

TESS is designed to carry out the first spaceborne all-sky transiting exoplanet survey.[19][31] It is equipped with four wide-angle telescopes and associated charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors. Science data are transmitted to Earth every two weeks. Full-frame images with an effective exposure time of two hours are transmitted as well, enabling scientists to search for unexpected transient phenomena, such as the optical counterparts to gamma-ray bursts. TESS also hosts a Guest Investigator program, allowing scientists from other organizations to use TESS for their own research. The resources allocated to Guest programs allow an additional 20,000 celestial bodies to be observed.[32]

File:NASA-Tess-SouthernSkyPanorama-20190718.webm

### Orbital dynamics

TESS uses a novel highly elliptical orbit around the Earth with an apogee approximately at the distance of the Moon and a perigee of 108,000 km (67,000 mi). TESS orbits Earth twice during the time the Moon orbits once, a 2:1 resonance with the Moon.[33] The orbit is expected to remain stable for a minimum of ten years.

In order to obtain unobstructed imagery of both the northern and southern hemispheres of the sky, TESS utilizes a 2:1 lunar resonant orbit called P/2, an orbit that has never been used before (although Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) uses a similar P/3 orbit). The highly elliptical orbit has a 375,000 km (233,000 mi) apogee, timed to be positioned approximately 90° away from the position of the Moon to minimize its destabilizing effect. This orbit should remain stable for decades and will keep TESS's cameras in a stable temperature range. The orbit is entirely outside the Van Allen belts to avoid radiation damage to TESS, and most of the orbit is spent far outside the belts. Every 13.70 days at its perigee of 108,000 km (67,000 mi), TESS transmits the data it collected during its most recent orbit back to earth via its downlink. This transmission occurs over a period of approximately three hours.[34]

### Science objectives

TESS – first light
(7 August 2018)[1][10][11] The 26 observation sectors of the sky planned for TESS

TESS's two-year all-sky survey would focus on nearby G-, K-, and M-type stars with apparent magnitudes brighter than magnitude 12.[35] Approximately 500,000 stars were to be studied, including the 1,000 closest red dwarfs across the whole sky,[36][37] an area 400 times larger than that covered by the Kepler mission. TESS was expected to find more than 3,000 transiting exoplanet candidates, including 500 Earth-sized planets and super-Earths.[36] Of those discoveries, an estimated 20 were expected to be super-Earths located in the habitable zone around a star.[38] The stated goal of the mission was to determine the masses of at least 50 Earth-sized planets (at most 4 times Earth radius). Most detected exoplanets are expected to be between 30 and 300 light-years away.

The survey was broken up into 26 observation sectors, each sector being 24° × 96°, with an overlap of sectors at the ecliptic poles to allow additional sensitivity toward smaller and longer-period exoplanets in that region of the celestial sphere. The spacecraft will spend two 13.70-day orbits observing each sector, mapping the southern hemisphere of sky in its first year of operation and the northern hemisphere in its second year.[39] The cameras actually take images every 2 seconds, but all the raw images would represent much more data volume than can be stored or downlinked. To deal with this, cutouts around 15,000 selected stars (per orbit) will be coadded over a 2-minute period and saved on board for downlink, while full-frame images will also be coadded over a 30-minute period and saved for downlink. The actual data downlinks will occur every 13.70 days near perigee.[40] This means that during the 2 years, TESS will continuously survey 85% of the sky for 27 days, with certain parts being surveyed across multiple runs. The survey methodology was designed such that the area that will be surveyed, essentially continuously, over an entire year (351 observation days) and makes up about 5% of the entire sky, will encompass the regions of sky (near the ecliptic poles) which will be observable at any time of year with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).[41]

In October 2019, Breakthrough Listen started a collaboration with scientists from the TESS team to look for signs of advanced extraterrestrial life. Thousands of new planets found by TESS will be scanned for "technosignatures" by Breakthrough Listen partner facilities across the globe. Data from TESS monitoring of stars will also be searched for anomalies.[42]

### Asteroseismology

The TESS team also plans to use a 30-minute observation cadence for full-frame images, which has been noted for imposing a hard Nyquist limit that can be problematic for asteroseismology of stars.[43] Asteroseismology is the science that studies the internal structure of stars by the interpretation of their frequency spectra. Different oscillation modes penetrate to different depths inside the star. The Kepler and PLATO observatories are also intended for asteroseismology.[44]

### Extended missions

During the 27 month First Extended Mission, July 2020 to Sept 2022, data collection was slightly changed:[45]

* A new set of target stars will be selected
* The number of stars monitored at 2-minute cadence was increased from 15,000 to 20,000 per observing sector.
* Up to 1000 stars per sector will be monitored at a new fast 20-second cadence.
* The full-frame image cadence will be increased from every 30 minutes to every 10 minutes.
* The pointings and gaps in coverage will be slightly different during the extended mission.
* Regions near the ecliptic (omitted in the primary mission) will be covered.

During the 3 year Second Extended Mission,[46] Sept 2022 to Nov 2025, the full-frame image cadence will be further increased from every 10 minutes to every 200 seconds, number of 2-minute cadence targets reduced to ~8000 per sector, and number of 20-second cadence targets increased to ~2000 per sector.[47]

## Launch

Falcon 9 launch vehicle carrying TESS, launching from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in April 2018

In December 2014, SpaceX was awarded the contract to launch TESS in August 2017,[48] for a total contract value of US$87 million.[49] The 362 kg (798 lb) spacecraft was originally scheduled to launch on 20 March 2018, but this was pushed back by SpaceX to allow additional time to prepare the launch vehicle and meet NASA launch service requirements.[50] A static fire of the Falcon 9 rocket was completed on 11 April 2018, at approximately 18:30 UTC.[51] The launch was postponed again from 16 April 2018,[7] and TESS was eventually launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle from the SLC-40 launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) on 18 April 2018.[8][9]

The Falcon 9 launch sequence included a 149-second burn by the first stage, followed by a 6-minute second stage burn. Meanwhile, the first-stage booster performed controlled-reentry maneuvers and successfully landed on the autonomous drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. An experimental water landing was performed for the fairing,[52] as part of SpaceX's attempt to develop fairing reusability.

After coasting for 35 minutes, the second stage performed a final 54-second burn that placed TESS into a supersynchronous transfer orbit of 200 × 270,000 km (120 × 167,770 mi) at an inclination of 28.50°.[52][53] The second stage released the payload, after which the stage itself was placed in a heliocentric orbit.

## Spacecraft

TESS spacecraft before launch

In 2013, Orbital Sciences Corporation received a four-year, US$75 million contract to build TESS for NASA.[54] TESS uses an Orbital Sciences LEOStar-2 satellite bus, capable of three-axis stabilization using four hydrazine thrusters plus four reaction wheels providing better than three arcsecond fine spacecraft pointing control. Power is provided by two single-axis solar arrays generating 400 watts. A Ka-band dish antenna provides a 100 Mbit/s science downlink.[36][55]

### Operational orbit

Animation of Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite's trajectory from 18 April 2018 to 18 December 2019
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite * Earth * Moon Planned orbital maneuvers after release from Falcon 9's second stage. Horizontal axis schematically represents longitude relative to the Moon, vertical axis is altitude. A1M = Apogee 1 manoeuvre, P1M = Perigee 1 manoeuvre, etc., TCM = trajectory correction manoeuvre (optional), PAM = period adjustment manoeuvre.

Once injected into the initial orbit by the Falcon 9 second stage, the spacecraft performed four additional independent burns that placed it into a lunar flyby orbit.[56] On 17 May 2018, the spacecraft underwent a gravity assist by the Moon at 8,253.5 km (5,128.5 mi) above the surface,[57] and performed the final period adjustment burn on 30 May 2018.[58] It achieved an orbital period of 13.65 days in the desired 2:1 resonance with the Moon, at 90° phase offset to the Moon at apogee, which is expected to be a stable orbit for at least 20 years, thus requiring very little fuel to maintain.[8] The entire maneuvering phase was expected to take a total of two months, and put the craft in an eccentric orbit (17–75 R⊕) at a 37° inclination. The total delta-v budget for orbit maneuvers was 215 m/s (710 ft/s), which is 80% of the mission's total available reserves. If TESS receives an on-target or slightly above nominal orbit insertion by the Falcon 9, a theoretical mission duration in excess of 15 years would be possible from a consumables standpoint.[53]

### Project timeline

The first light image was made on 7 August 2018, and released publicly on 17 September 2018.[1][10][11][59]

TESS completed its commissioning phase at the end of July and the science phase officially started on 25 July 2018.[60]

For the first two years of operation TESS monitored both the southern (year 1) and northern (year 2) celestial hemispheres. During its nominal mission TESS tiles the sky in 26 separate segments, with a 27.4-day observing period per segment.[39] The first southern survey was completed in July 2019. The first northern survey finished in July 2020.

A 27-month First Extended mission ran until September 2022. A second extended mission will run approximately additional three years.

## Instruments

Instruments on TESS

The sole instrument on TESS is a package of four wide-field-of-view charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras. Each camera features four low-noise, low-power 4 megapixel CCDs created by MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The four CCDs are arranged in a 2 x 2 detector array for a total of 16 megapixels per camera and 16 CCDs for the entire instrument. Each camera has a 24° × 24° field of view, a 100 mm (3.9 in) effective pupil diameter, a lens assembly with seven optical elements, and a bandpass range of 600 nm (orange) to 1000 (NIR) nm.[36][3] The TESS lenses have a combined field of view of 24° × 96° (2300 deg2, around 5% of the entire sky) and a focal ratio of f/1.4. The ensquared energy, the fraction of the total energy of the point-spread function that is within a square of the given dimensions centered on the peak, is 50% within 15 × 15 μm and 90% within 60 × 60 μm.[3] For comparison, Kepler's primary mission only covered an area of the sky measuring 105 deg2, though the K2 extension has covered many such areas for shorter times.

The four telescopes in the assembly each have a 10.5-cm diameter lens entrance aperture, with a f/1.4 focal ratio, with a total of seven lenses in the optical train.[61]

## Ground operations

The TESS ground system is divided between eight sites around the United States. These include Space Network and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's NASA Deep Space Network for command and telemetry, Orbital ATK's Mission Operations Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Payload Operations Center, the Ames Research Center's Science Processing Operations Center, The Goddard Space Flight Center's Flight Dynamics Facility, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's TESS Science Office, and the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST).[62]

## Stable light source for tests

One of the issues facing the development of this type of instrument is having an ultra-stable light source to test on. In 2015, a group at the University of Geneva made a breakthrough in the development of a stable light source. While this instrument was created to support ESA's CHEOPS exoplanet observatory, one was also ordered by the TESS program.[63] Although both observatories plan to look at bright nearby stars using the transit method, CHEOPS is focused on collecting more data on known exoplanets, including those found by TESS and other survey missions.[64]

## Results

Test image taken before the start of science operations. The image is centered on the constellation Centaurus. In the top right corner the edge of the Coalsack Nebula can be seen. The bright star in the bottom left is Beta Centauri.

Current mission results as of 01 July 2025: 638 confirmed exoplanets discovered by TESS, with 7655 candidate-planets that are still awaiting confirmation or rejection as false positive by the scientific community.[65] TESS team partners include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, Orbital ATK, NASA's Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Exoplanet LHS 3844 b (artist concept)

### C/2018 N1

TESS started science operations on 25 July 2018.[66] The first announced finding from the mission was the observation of comet C/2018 N1.[66]

### Pi Mensae

The first exoplanet detection announcement was on 18 September 2018, announcing the discovery of a super-Earth in the Pi Mensae system orbiting the star every 6 days, adding to a known Super-Jupiter orbiting the same star every 5.9 years.[67]

### LHS 3844 b

On 20 September 2018, the discovery of an ultra-short period planet was announced, slightly larger than Earth, orbiting the red dwarf LHS 3844. With an orbital period of 11 hours, LHS 3844 b is one of the planets with the shortest known period. It orbits its star at a distance of 932,000 km (579,000 mi). LHS 3844 b is also one of the closest known exoplanets to Earth, at a distance of 14.9 parsecs.[68]

### HD 202772 Ab

TESS's third discovered exoplanet is HD 202772 Ab, a hot Jupiter orbiting the brighter component of the visual binary star HD 202772, located in the constellation Capricornus at a distance of about 480 light-years from Earth. The discovery was announced on 5 October 2018. HD 202772 Ab orbits its host star once every 3.3 days. It is an inflated hot Jupiter, and a rare example of hot Jupiters around evolved stars. It is also one of the most strongly irradiated planets known, with an equilibrium temperature of 2,100 K (1,830 °C; 3,320 °F).[69]

### HD 21749

On 15 April 2019, TESS' first discovery of an earth-sized planet was reported. HD 21749 c is a planet described as "likely rocky", with about 89% of Earth's diameter and orbits the K-type main sequence star HD 21749 in about 8 days. The planet's surface temperature is estimated to be as high as 427 °C. Both known planets in the system, HD 21749 b and HD 21749 c, were discovered by TESS. HD 21749 c represents the 10th confirmed planet discovery by TESS.[70]

### MAST Data collaboration

Data on exoplanet candidates continue to be made available at MAST.[71] As of 20 April 2019, the total number of candidates on the list was up to 335. Besides candidates identified as previously discovered exoplanets, this list also includes ten newly discovered exoplanets, including the five mentioned above. Forty-four of the candidates from Sector 1 in this list were selected for follow-up observations by the TESS Follow-Up Program (TFOP), which aims to aid the discovery of 50 planets with a planetary radius of R < 4 RE through repeated observations.[72] The list of candidate exoplanets continues to grow as additional results are being published on the same MAST page.

### Changing to the Northern Sky

On 18 July 2019, after the first year of operation the southern portion of the survey was completed, it turned its cameras to the Northern Sky. As of this time it has discovered 21 planets and has over 850 candidate exoplanets.[73]

### DS Tucanae Ab

On 23 July 2019, the discovery of the young exoplanet DS Tucanae Ab (HD 222259 Ab) in the ~45 Myr old Tucana-Horologium young moving group was published in a paper. TESS first observed the planet in November 2018 and it was confirmed in March 2019. The young planet is larger than Neptune, but smaller than Saturn. The system is bright enough to follow up with radial velocity and transmission spectroscopy.[74][75] ESA's CHEOPS mission will observe the transits of the young exoplanet DS Tuc Ab. A team of scientists got 23.4 orbits approved in the first Announcement of Opportunity (AO-1) for the CHEOPS Guest Observers (GO) Programme to characterize the planet.[76]

### Gliese 357

On 31 July 2019, the discovery of exoplanets around the M-type dwarf star Gliese 357 at a distance of 31 light years from Earth was announced.[77] TESS directly observed the transit of GJ 357 b, a hot earth with an equilibrium temperature of around 250 °C. Follow-up ground observations and analyses of historic data lead to the discovery of GJ 357 c and GJ 357 d. While GJ 357 b and GJ 357 c are too close to the star to be habitable, GJ 357 d resides at the outer edge of the star's habitable zone and may possess habitable conditions if it has an atmosphere. With at least 6.1 ME it is classified as a Super-Earth.[77]

### Count of exoplanets in 2019

As of September 2019, over 1000 TESS Objects of Interest (ToI) have been listed in the public database,[78] at least 29 of which are confirmed planets, about 20 of which within the stated goal of the mission of Earth-sized (<4 Earth radii).[79]

### ASASSN-19bt

On 26 September 2019, it was announced that TESS observed its first tidal disruption event (TDE), called ASASSN-19bt. The TESS data revealed that ASASSN-19bt began to brighten on 21 January 2019, ~8.3 days before the discovery by ASAS-SN.[80][81]

### TOI-700

TOI-700 system

TOI-700 multiplanetary system

Exoplanet TOI-700 d (artist concept)

On 6 January 2020, NASA reported the discovery of TOI-700 d, the first Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone discovered by the TESS. The exoplanet orbits the star TOI-700 100 light-years away in the Dorado constellation.[30] The TOI-700 system contains two other planets: TOI-700 b, another Earth-sized planet, and TOI-700 c, a super-Earth. This system is unique in that the larger planet is found between the two smaller planets. It is currently unknown how this arrangement of planets came to be, whether these planets formed in this order or if the larger planet migrated to its current orbit.[82] On the same day, NASA announced that astronomers used TESS data to show that Alpha Draconis is an eclipsing binary star.[83]

### TOI-1338

NASA also announced the discovery of TOI-1338 b, the first circumbinary planet discovered by TESS. TOI-1338 b is around 6.9 times larger than Earth, or between the sizes of Neptune and Saturn. It lies in a system 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Pictor. The stars in the system make an eclipsing binary, which occurs when the stellar companions circle each other in our plane of view. One is about 10% more massive than the Sun, while the other is cooler, dimmer and only one-third the Sun's mass. TOI-1338 b's transits are irregular, between every 93 and 95 days, and vary in depth and duration thanks to the orbital motion of its stars. TESS only sees the transits crossing the larger star — the transits of the smaller star are too faint to detect. Although the planet transits irregularly, its orbit is stable for at least the next 10 million years.[84]

### HD 108236

On 25 January 2021, a team led by astrochemist Tansu Daylan, with the help of two high school interns as part of the Science Research Mentoring Program at Harvard & MIT, discovered and validated four extrasolar planets — composed of one super-Earth and three sub-Neptunes \- hosted by the bright, nearby, Sun-like star HD 108236. The two high schoolers, 18 year old Jasmine Wright of Bedford High School in Bedford, Massachusetts, and 16 year old Kartik Pinglé of Cambridge Ringe And Latin School, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, are reported to be the youngest individuals in history to discover a planet, let alone four.[85][86]

### TIC 168789840

On 27 January 2021, several news agencies reported that a team using TESS had determined that TIC 168789840, a stellar system with six stars in three binary pairs was oriented so astronomers could observe the eclipses of all the stars.[87][88][89][90][91] It is the first six star system of its kind.

### Count of exoplanets in 2021

In March 2021, NASA announced that TESS found 2200 exoplanet candidates.[92] By the end of 2021, TESS had discovered over 5000 candidates.[93]

### TOI-1231 b

On 17 May 2021, an international team of scientists, including researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of New Mexico, reported, and confirmed by a ground based telescope, the space telescope's first discovery of a Neptune-sized exoplanet, TOI-1231 b, inside a habitable zone. The planet orbits a nearby red dwarf star, 90 light-years away in the Vela constellation.[94]

### Exoplanet search programs

The TESS Objects of Interest (TOI) are assigned by the TESS team[95] and the Community TOIs (CTOI) are assigned by independent researchers.[96] The primary mission of TESS produced 2241 TOIs.[95] Other small and large collaborations of researchers try to confirm the TOIs and CTOIs, or try to find new CTOIs.

Some of the collaborations with names that are searching exclusively for TESS planets are:

* The citizen science project Planet Hunters: TESS (PHT)[97]
* TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets (THYME)[98]
* The TESS-Keck Survey (TKS)[99]
* TESS Giants Transiting Giants (TESS GTG)[100]

Collaborations with currently a smaller amount of discovery papers:

* Warm gIaNts with tEss collaboration (WINE)[101]
* The TESS Grand Unified Hot Jupiter Survey[102]

The TESS community is also producing software and programs to help validate the planet candidates, such as TRICERATOPS,[103] DAVE,[104] Lightkurve,[105] Eleanor[106] and Planet Patrol.[107]

### Stellar rotations

TESS can estimate stellar rotation rates (which correlate with age), to find populations of similar age stars that likely formed together.[108]

## In popular culture

TESS is featured accurately in the 2018 film Clara.

## See also

* ARIEL, 2029 exoplanet atmospheres observatory
* CHEOPS, 2019 exoplanet observatory
* CoRoT, 2006–2012 exoplanet observatory
* Kepler, 2009–2018 exoplanet observatory
* MOST, 2003–2019 asteroseismology and exoplanet observatory
* PLATO, 2026 exoplanet observatory
* SWEEPS, 2006 Hubble Space Telescope exoplanet survey
* TOI-2119
* List of transiting exoplanets

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Overbye, Dennis (September 20, 2018). "NASA's TESS Starts Collecting Planets - The satellite, launched in April, has already identified at least 73 stars that may harbor exoplanets, most of them new to astronomers.". NASA. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/science/nasa-tess-planets.html. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Overbye, Dennis (March 26, 2018). "Meet Tess, Seeker of Alien Worlds". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/science/tess-nasa-exoplanets.html.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ricker, George R.Expression error: Unrecognized word "et". (January–March 2015). "Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite". Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 1 (1). doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.1.1.014003. Bibcode: 2015JATIS...1a4003R. http://seagerexoplanets.mit.edu/ftp/Papers/TESS2015.pdf. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
4. ↑ "TESS: Discovering Exoplanets Orbiting Nearby Stars - Fact Sheet". Orbital ATK. 2018. https://www.orbitalatk.com/space-systems/science-national-security-satellites/science-environment-satellites/docs/TESS_Factsheet.pdf.
5. ↑ Gebhardt, Chris (April 18, 2018). "SpaceX successfully launches TESS on a mission to search for near-Earth exoplanets". NASASpaceFlight.com. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/04/tess-launch-mission-search-near-earth-exoplanets/.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ricker, George R.; Winn, Joshua N.; Vanderspek, Roland; Latham, David W.; Bakos, Gáspár Á.; Bean, Jacob L.; Berta-Thompson, Zachory K.; Brown, Timothy M. et al. (2014-10-24). "Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite". Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems (SPIE Digital Library) 1. doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.1.1.014003. Bibcode: 2015JATIS...1a4003R.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Launch Schedule". Spaceflight Now. February 27, 2018. https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Amos, Jonathan (April 19, 2018). "Planet-hunter launches from Florida". BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43790557.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "NASA Planet Hunter on Its Way to Orbit". NASA. April 19, 2018. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-planet-hunter-on-its-way-to-orbit. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Kazmierczak, Jeanette; Garner, Rob (September 17, 2018). "NASA's TESS Shares First Science Image in Hunt to Find New Worlds". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-s-tess-shares-first-science-image-in-hunt-to-find-new-worlds. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "NASA's TESS Releases First Science Image". NASA. September 17, 2018. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13069. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
12. ↑ Barclay, Thomas; Pepper, Joshua; Quintana, Elisa V. (2018-10-25). "A Revised Exoplanet Yield from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)". The Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series 239 (1): 2. doi:10.3847/1538-4365/aae3e9. ISSN 1538-4365. Bibcode: 2018ApJS..239....2B.
13. ↑ "Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS)". Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System. NASA. https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/tess. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
14. ↑ "NASA Exoplanet Archive". NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive. https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu.
15. ↑ "NASA FY 2015 President's Budget Request Summary". NASA. March 10, 2014. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/NASA_2015_Budget_Estimates.pdf. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
16. ↑ Wenz, John (10 October 2019). "Lessons from scorching hot weirdo-planets" (in en). Knowable Magazine (Annual Reviews). doi:10.1146/knowable-101019-2. https://knowablemagazine.org/article/physical-world/2019/hot-jupiter-formation-theories. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
17. ↑ Dawson, Rebekah I.; Johnson, John Asher (14 September 2018). "Origins of Hot Jupiters". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 56 (1): 175–221. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081817-051853. Bibcode: 2018ARA&A..56..175D.
18. ↑ Chandler, David (March 19, 2008). "MIT aims to search for Earth-like planets with Google's help". MIT. http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2008/mit-aims-search-earth-planets-googles-help.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Harrington, J. D. (April 5, 2013). "NASA Selects Explorer Investigations for Formulation" (Press release). NASA. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
20. ↑ "NASA selects MIT-led TESS project for 2017 mission". MIT. April 5, 2013. http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2013/nasa-selects-tess-for-mission-0405.
21. ↑ Barclay, Thomas. "NASA - TESS Science Support Center" (in en). https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess/./pages/the-second-extended-mission.html.
22. ↑ Ricker, George R.; Winn, Joshua N.; Vanderspek, Roland; Latham, David W.; Bakos, Gaspar A.; Bean, Jacob L.; Berta-Thompson, Zachory K.; Brown, Timothy M. et al. (2014-10-24). "The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite". Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 1 (1). doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.1.1.014003. ISSN 2329-4124. Bibcode: 2015JATIS...1a4003R.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 "Mission History". Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. NASA. http://tess.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission_history.html. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
24. ↑ Hand, Eric (June 22, 2009). "No SMEX-love for TESS". Nature (journal). http://blogs.nature.com/news/2009/06/no_smexlove_for_tess.html.
25. ↑ George R. Ricker; Joshua N. Winn; Roland Vanderspek; David W. Latham; Gáspár Á. Bakos; Jacob L. Bean (2014). "Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)". in Jacobus M. Oschmann Jr. 9143. SPIE. p. 914320. doi:10.1117/12.2063489. ISBN 978-0-8194-9611-9.
26. ↑ "Medium-Class Explorers (MIDEX) Missions in Development". NASA. http://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov/midex.html. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
27. ↑ "Meet TESS, NASA's Next Planet Finder". Popular Mechanics. October 30, 2013. https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/telescopes/a9565/all-about-tess-nasas-next-planet-finder-16097391/.
28. ↑ Clark, Stuart (April 19, 2018). "Spacewatch: Tess embarks on planet-hunting mission for NASA". the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/19/tess-nasa-planet-exoplanet-hunt-satellite.
29. ↑ Mireles, Ismael (July 18, 2019). "NASA Extends the TESS Mission through 2022". https://tess.mit.edu/news/nasa-extends-the-tess-mission/.
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Andreolo, Claire; Cofield, Calla; Kazmierczak, Jeanette (January 6, 2020). "NASA Planet Hunter Finds Earth-Size Habitable-Zone World". NASA. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7569. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
31. ↑ Ricker, George R. (June 26, 2014). "Discovering New Earths and Super-Earths in the Solar Neighborhood". SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 22–27 June 2014 Montréal, Québec, Canada. doi:10.1117/2.3201407.18.
32. ↑ "About TESS". NASA. July 15, 2016. https://www.nasa.gov/content/about-tess. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
33. ↑ McGiffin, Daniel A.; Mathews, Michael; Cooley, Steven (June 1, 2001). "HIGH EARTH ORBIT DESIGN FOR LUNAR-ASSISTED MEDIUM CLASS EXPLORER MISSIONS". 2001 Flight Mechanics Symposium (NASA). https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20010084964. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
34. ↑ "New Explorer Mission Chooses the 'Just-Right' Orbit". NASA. 31 July 2013. http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/new-explorer-mission-chooses-the-just-right-orbit/.
35. ↑ Seager, Sara (2011). "Exoplanet Space Missions". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://seagerexoplanets.mit.edu/exoplanet.htm.
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37. ↑ Zastrow, Mark (May 30, 2013). "Exoplanets After Kepler: What's next?". Sky & Telescope. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/exoplanets-after-kepler-whats-next/.
38. ↑ Hadhazy, Adam (July 23, 2015). "Super-Earths Might Be Our Best Bet For Finding Alien Life". Discover (magazine). http://discovermagazine.com/2015/sept/14-super-earths.
39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 "Home - TESS - Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite". https://tess.mit.edu/.
40. ↑ "TESS Observatory Guide". NASA. https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess/docs/TESS_observatory_guide_v1.1.pdf. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
41. ↑ Crossfield, Ian (March 27, 2017). Latest Exoplanet Results from NASA's Kepler/K2 Mission. SETI Talks 2017. SETI Institute. 42.3 minutes in.
42. ↑ "Breakthrough Initiatives". https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/news/27.
43. ↑ Murphy, Simon J. (November 2015). "The potential for super-Nyquist asteroseismology with TESS". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 453 (3): 2569–2575. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1842. Bibcode: 2015MNRAS.453.2569M. http://simonmurphy.info/images/tess_sampling.pdf. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
44. ↑ "Asteroseismic data analysis with Kepler, K2, TESS and PLATO". FindaPhD.com. http://www.findaphd.com/search/projectdetails.aspx?PJID=63199.
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46. ↑ Barclay, Thomas. "NASA - TESS Science Support Center" (in en). https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess/./pages/the-second-extended-mission.html.
47. ↑ Barclay, Thomas. "NASA - TESS Science Support Center" (in en). https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tess/second-extended.html.
48. ↑ Berger, Brian (December 17, 2014). "NASA Taps SpaceX To Launch TESS Satellite". SpaceNews. http://spacenews.com/nasa-taps-spacex-to-launch-tess-satellite.
49. ↑ "NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite" (Press release). NASA. December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
50. ↑ Clark, Stephen (February 16, 2018). "Exoplanet-hunting satellite arrives in Florida for April launch". Spaceflight Now. https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/16/exoplanet-hunting-satellite-arrives-in-florida-for-april-launch/.
51. ↑ @NASA_TESS (April 11, 2018). "The @SpaceX #Falcon9 fairing for @NASA_TESS arrived over the weekend...". https://twitter.com/NASA_TESS/status/984057626706239488.
52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 "Launch Profile - Falcon 9 - TESS". Spaceflight101.com. http://spaceflight101.com/tess/flight-profile/.
53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 "TESS Orbit Design". Spaceflight101.com. http://spaceflight101.com/tess/tess-orbit-design/.
54. ↑ Leone, Dan (April 24, 2013). "Orbital Gets $75M To Build TESS Exoplanet Telescope". SpaceNews. http://spacenews.com/35024orbital-gets-75m-to-build-tess-exoplanet-telescope/.
55. ↑ "TESS: Discovering Exoplanets Orbiting Nearby Stars". Orbital Sciences. 2014. http://www.orbital.com/SatelliteSpaceSystems/Publications/TESS_factsheet.pdf.
56. ↑ @NASA_TESS (April 29, 2018). "Mission Update: Team decided that the second apogee maneuver (Apogee 2 maneuver (A2M)), was not necessary...". https://twitter.com/NASA_TESS/status/990743720566894594.
57. ↑ @NASA_TESS (May 18, 2018). "Mission Update: #TESS successfully completed a lunar flyby...". https://twitter.com/NASA_TESS/status/997485558283882501.
58. ↑ @NASA_TESS (June 1, 2018). ".@NASA_TESS Mission Update: The...". https://twitter.com/NASA_TESS/status/1002603655722397696.
59. ↑ @NASA_TESS (May 18, 2018). "As part of camera commissioning, the #TESS science team snapped a two-second test exposure...". https://twitter.com/NASA_TESS/status/997499375084556290. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
60. ↑ "NASA's TESS spacecraft starts science operations". July 27, 2018. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-s-tess-spacecraft-starts-science-operations. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
61. ↑ NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, Characteristics of the TESS space telescope, retrieved 13 October 2023.[|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
62. ↑ "TESS Ground Operations". NASA. https://tess.gsfc.nasa.gov/groundops.html. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
63. ↑ Peach, Matthew (October 1, 2015). "Swiss group develops 'most stable light source' for satellite tests". Optics.org. http://optics.org/news/6/9/50.
64. ↑ Nowakowski, Tomasz (March 17, 2015). "ESA's CHEOPS Satellite: The Pharaoh of Exoplanet Hunting". Astro Watch. http://www.astrowatch.net/2015/03/esas-cheops-satellite-pharaoh-of.html.
65. ↑ "NASA Exoplanet Archive". https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/counts_detail.html.
66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 Garner, Rob (August 6, 2018). "Planet-Hunting TESS Catches a Comet Before Starting Science". http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-s-planet-hunting-tess-catches-a-comet-before-starting-science.
67. ↑ Huang, Chelsea X. (2018). "TESS Discovery of a Transiting Super-Earth in the Π Mensae System". The Astrophysical Journal 868 (2): L39. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aaef91. PMID 31360431. Bibcode: 2018ApJ...868L..39H.
68. ↑ Vanderspek, Roland (September 19, 2018). "TESS Discovery of an ultra-short-period planet around the nearby M dwarf LHS 3844". The Astrophysical Journal 871 (2): L24. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aafb7a. Bibcode: 2019ApJ...871L..24V.
69. ↑ Wang, Songhu (October 5, 2018). "HD 202772 Ab: A Transiting Hot Jupiter Around A Bright, Mildly Evolved Star In A Visual Binary Discovered By Tess". The Astronomical Journal 157 (2): 51. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aaf1b7.
70. ↑ Garner, Rob (April 15, 2019). "NASA's TESS Discovers its First Earth-size Planet". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-tess-discovers-its-first-earth-size-planet. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
71. ↑ "TESS-DATA-ALERTS: Data Products From TESS Data Alerts". https://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/tess-data-alerts/.
72. ↑ "Followup". https://tess.mit.edu/followup/.
73. ↑ NASA.gov NASA's TESS Mission Completes First Year of Survey, Turns to Northern Sky  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
74. ↑ Albright, Charlotte (August 14, 2019). "Dartmouth Astronomer on Leading Discovery of a New Planet". https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2019/08/dartmouth-astronomer-leading-discovery-new-planet.
75. ↑ Newton, Elisabeth R.; Mann, Andrew W.; Tofflemire, Benjamin M.; Pearce, Logan; Rizzuto, Aaron C.; Vanderburg, Andrew; Martinez, Raquel A.; Wang, Jason J. et al. (July 23, 2019). "TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets (THYME): A Planet in the 45 Myr Tucana–Horologium Association". The Astrophysical Journal 880 (1): L17. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab2988. ISSN 2041-8213. Bibcode: 2019ApJ...880L..17N.
76. ↑ "AO-1 Programmes - CHEOPS Guest Observers Programme - Cosmos". https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/cheops-guest-observers-programme/ao-1-programmes.
77. ↑ 77.0 77.1 Garner, Rob (July 30, 2019). "NASA's TESS Helps Find Intriguing New World". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/confirmation-of-toasty-tess-planet-leads-to-surprising-find-of-promising-world. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
78. ↑ "ExoFOP". https://exofop.ipac.caltech.edu/tess/view_toi.php.
79. ↑ "Publications". https://tess.mit.edu/publications/.
80. ↑ Garner, Rob (September 25, 2019). "TESS Spots Its 1st Star-shredding Black Hole". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-tess-mission-spots-its-1st-star-shredding-black-hole. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
81. ↑ Holoien, Thomas W.-S.; Vallely, Patrick J.; Auchettl, Katie; Stanek, K. Z.; Kochanek, Christopher S.; French, K. Decker; Prieto, Jose L.; Shappee, Benjamin J. et al. (September 26, 2019). "Discovery and Early Evolution of ASASSN-19bt, the First TDE Detected by TESS". The Astrophysical Journal 883 (2): 111. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab3c66. ISSN 1538-4357. Bibcode: 2019ApJ...883..111H.
82. ↑ "The TESS Mission's First Earth-Like Planet Found in an Interesting Trio". 18 February 2020. https://aasnova.org/2020/02/18/the-tess-missions-first-earth-like-planet-found-in-an-interesting-trio/.
83. ↑ Reddy, Francis (January 6, 2020). "TESS Shows Ancient North Star Undergoes Eclipses". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/surprise-tess-shows-ancient-north-star-undergoes-eclipses. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
84. ↑ "TESS Discovers Its 1st Planet Orbiting 2 Stars". NASA. January 6, 2020. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/nasa-s-tess-mission-uncovers-its-1st-world-with-two-stars. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
85. ↑ Daylan, Tansu (January 25, 2021). "TESS Discovery of a Super-Earth and Three Sub-Neptunes Hosted by the Bright, Sun-like Star HD 108236". The Astronomical Journal 161 (2): 85. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/abd73e. Bibcode: 2021AJ....161...85D.
86. ↑ "High schoolers discover four exoplanets through Harvard & Smithsonian mentorship program". January 28, 2021. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/01/high-school-students-discover-exoplanets-during-mentoring-program.
87. ↑ "Discovery Alert: First Six-star System Where All Six Stars Undergo Eclipses". NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. 2021-01-27. https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1672/discovery-alert-first-six-star-system-where-all-six-stars-undergo-eclipses/. "The system, also called TIC 168789840, is the first known sextuple composed of three sets of eclipsing binaries, stellar pairs whose orbits tip into our line of sight so we observe the stars alternatively passing in front of each other." This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
88. ↑ Natali Anderson (2021-01-25). "TESS Discovers Sextuply-Eclipsing Six-Star System". Sci-News. http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/tess-sextuply-eclipsing-six-star-system-09282.html. "'Prior to the discovery of TIC 168789840, there were 17 known sextuple star systems according to the June 2020 update of the Multiple Star Catalog,' lead author Dr. Brian Powell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and colleagues wrote in their paper."
89. ↑ Jamie Carter (2021-01-28). "A Weird 'Sextuple' Star System Has Been Found By NASA Where Six Suns Eclipse Each Other". Forbes magazine. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2021/01/28/you-should-know-about-the-weird-sextuple-star-system-just-found-by-nasa-where-six-suns-eclipse-each-other/?sh=60bfadcc7698.
90. ↑ "Astronomers find a system of six stars made of three eclipsing binaries". WION (TV channel). 2021-01-28. https://www.wionews.com/science/astronomers-find-a-system-of-six-stars-made-of-three-eclipsing-binaries-359797. "The primary stars in all three binaries are all slightly bigger and more massive than the Sun and about as hot. The system, also called TIC 168789840, is located about 1,900 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus."
91. ↑ Robin George Andrews (2021-01-23). "Six Stars, Six Eclipses: 'The Fact That It Exists Blows My Mind'". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/science/six-stars-eclipses.html. "But only one of the pairs could have any planets. Two of the system's binaries orbit extremely close to one another, forming their own quadruple subsystem. Any planets there would likely be ejected or engulfed by one of the four stars. The third binary is farther out, orbiting the other two once every 2,000 years or so, making it a possible exoplanetary haven."
92. ↑ "Space Telescope Delivers the Goods: 2,200 Possible Planets". NASA. March 23, 2021. https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1677/space-telescope-delivers-the-goods-2200-possible-planets/. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
93. ↑ "TESS Science Office at MIT hits milestone of 5,000 exoplanet candidates". 21 December 2021. https://tess.mit.edu/news/tess-science-office-at-mit-hits-milestone-of-5000-exoplanet-candidates/.
94. ↑ Burt, Jennifer A.; Dragomir, Diana; Mollière, Paul; Youngblood, Allison et al. (2021-05-17). "TOI-1231b: A Temperate, Neptune-sized Planet Transiting the Nearby M3 Dwarf NLTT 24399". The Astronomical Journal 162 (3): 87. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac0432. Bibcode: 2021AJ....162...87B.
95. ↑ 95.0 95.1 Guerrero, Natalia M.; Seager, S.; Huang, Chelsea X.; Vanderburg, Andrew; Garcia Soto, Aylin; Mireles, Ismael; Hesse, Katharine; Fong, William et al. (2021-06-01). "The TESS Objects of Interest Catalog from the TESS Prime Mission". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 254 (2): 39. doi:10.3847/1538-4365/abefe1. ISSN 0067-0049. Bibcode: 2021ApJS..254...39G.
96. ↑ "ExoFOP Help page". https://exofop.ipac.caltech.edu/tess/help.php.
97. ↑ "NASA/ADS, search Planet Hunters TESS". https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=title:"planet hunters tess" abstract:"TESS"&sort=date desc, bibcode desc&p_=0.
98. ↑ "NASA/ADS, search for THYME". https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/p_=0&q=TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets&sort=date desc, bibcode desc.
99. ↑ "NASA/ADS, searching The TESS-Keck Survey or TKS". https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=(title:"The TESS-Keck Survey" OR (title:"TKS" AND abstract:"TESS")) NOT title:"vizieR"&sort=date desc, bibcode desc&p_=0.
100. ↑ "NASA/ADS searching TESS Giants Transiting Giants". https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=title:"TESS Giants Transiting Giants"&sort=date desc, bibcode desc&p_=0.
101. ↑ "NASA/ADS, search for WINE". https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=title:"wine" abstract:"TESS"&sort=date desc, bibcode desc&p_=0.
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108. ↑ NASA’s TESS Spacecraft Triples Size of Pleiades Star Cluster. 2025

## Further reading

Library resources about
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

* * *

* Resources in your library
* Resources in other libraries

* Ricker, George R. et al. (October 24, 2014). "Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite". Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 1 (1): 914320. doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.1.1.014003. Bibcode: 2014SPIE.9143E..20R.
* Stassun, Keivan (November 18, 2014). "TESS and Galactic Science". WFIRST Meeting. California Institute of Technology. http://conference.ipac.caltech.edu/wfirs2014/talks/WFIRS2014_Stassun.pdf.

## External links

* TESS twitter account by NASA
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* TESS listing of Southern Sky panoramas (July 18, 2019)
* TESS launch closeup, atop Falcon 9 rocket. APOD (April 21, 2018)
* Interactive 3D simulation of TESS's 2:1 lunar resonant orbit

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* Viking
* Project Prometheus
* Mars Scout
* Mars Exploration Rover

|

Current|

* Living With a Star
* Lunar Precursor Robotic Program
* Earth Observing System
* Great Observatories program
* Explorer
* Small explorer
* Voyager
* Discovery
* New Frontiers
* Solar Terrestrial Probes
* Commercial Lunar Payload Services

Human spaceflight
programs|

| Past|

* X-15 (suborbital)
* Mercury
* Gemini
* Apollo
* Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (with the Soviet space program)
* Skylab
* Space Shuttle
* Shuttle–Mir (with Roscosmos State Corporation)
* Constellation

|

Current|

* International Space Station
* Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
* Commercial Crew Development
* Orion
* Artemis
* Lunar Gateway

Individual featured
missions
(human and robotic)|

| Past|

* COBE
* Mercury 3
* Mercury-Atlas 6
* Magellan
* Pioneer 10
* Pioneer 11
* Galileo
* GALEX
* GRAIL
* WMAP
* Space Shuttle
* Sojourner rover
* Spirit rover
* LADEE
* MESSENGER
* Aquarius
* Cassini
* Dawn
* Kepler space telescope
* Opportunity rover
* RHESSI
* observed

|

Currently
operating|

* Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
* 2001 Mars Odyssey
* New Horizons
* International Space Station
* Hubble Space Telescope
* Spitzer
* Swift
* THEMIS
* Mars Exploration Rover
* Curiosity rover
* timeline
* InSight
* GOES 14
* Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
* GOES 15
* Van Allen Probes
* Solar Dynamics Observatory
* Juno
* Mars Science Laboratory
* timeline
* NuSTAR
* Voyager 1
* Voyager 2
* WISE
* MAVEN
* MMS
* OSIRIS-REx
* Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

Future|

* Joint Polar Satellite System
* James Webb Space Telescope
* Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope
* Mars 2020
* NISAR
* Europa Clipper

Communications
and navigation|

* Near Earth Network
* Space Network
* Deep Space Network (Goldstone
* Madrid
* Canberra
* Space Flight Operations Facility)
* Deep Space Atomic Clock

NASA lists|

* Astronauts
* by name
* by year
* Gemini astronauts
* Apollo astronauts
* List of NASA aircraft
* List of NASA missions
* uncrewed missions
* List of NASA contractors
* List of United States rockets
* List of NASA cancellations
* List of Space Shuttle missions
* crews
* List of NASA cameras on spacecraft

NASA images
and artwork|

* Earthrise
* The Blue Marble
* Family Portrait
* Pale Blue Dot
* Pillars of Creation
* Mystic Mountain
* Solar System Family Portrait
* The Day the Earth Smiled
* Fallen Astronaut
* Lunar plaques
* Pioneer plaques
* Voyager Golden Record
* Apollo 11 goodwill messages
* NASA insignia
* Gemini and Apollo medallions
* Mission patches

Related|

* Apollo 15 postal covers incident
* Space Mirror Memorial
* The Astronaut Monument
* U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
* Space program on U.S. stamps
* Apollo 17 Moon mice
* Other primates in space
* NASA spinoff technologies

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Exoplanet search projects

* Exoplanetology
* Exoplanet

Ground-based|

* AAPS
* APF
* CORALIE
* EAPSNet
* ELODIE
* EPICS
* ESPRESSO
* FINDS Exo-Earths
* Geneva
* HARPS
* HARPS-N
* GPI
* HATNet
* HEK
* HiCIAO
* HIRES
* KELT
* LCES
* Magellan
* MARVELS
* MASCARA
* MEarth
* MicroFUN
* MINERVA
* Australis
* MOA
* N2K
* NGTS
* NESSI
* OGLE
* OPSP
* PlanetPol
* Project 1640
* PARAS
* SEEDS
* SETI
* SOPHIE
* SPECULOOS
* SPHERE
* SuperWASP
* Systemic
* TrES
* XO Telescope
* ZIMPOL/CHEOPS

Space missions|

| Past|

* MOST (2003–2019)
* SWEEPS using HST (2006)
* CoRoT (2006–2013)
* EPOXI using Deep Impact (2008–2013)
* Kepler (2009–2018)
* detected exoplanets

|

Current|

* Gaia (2013–present)
* ASTERIA (2017–present)
* TESS (2018–present)

Planned|

* CHEOPS (2019)
* James Webb Space Telescope (2021)
* PLATO (2026)
* ARIEL (2028)
* WFIRST (mid-2020s)

Proposed|

* ATLAST
* EXCEDE
* HabEx
* HDST
* LUVOIR
* Nautilus Deep Space Observatory
* New Worlds Mission
* OST
* PEGASE

Cancelled|

* Darwin
* EChO
* Eddington
* Space Interferometry Mission
* Terrestrial Planet Finder

* Detection methods
* Discoveries of exoplanets
* Lists of exoplanets
* nearest

* v
* t
* e

Explorers Program

List of Explorers Program missions

Missions|

| 1958–1992|

* Explorer 1
* 2†
* 3
* 4
* 5†
* S-1†
* 6 (S-2)
* 7 (S-1A)
* S-46A†
* 8
* S-56†
* 9 (S-56A)
* S-45†
* 10
* 11 (S-15)
* S-45A†
* S-55†
* 12 (EPE-A)
* 13 (S-55A)
* 14 (EPE-B)
* 15 (EPE-C)
* 16 (S-55B)
* 17 (AE-A)
* 18 (IMP-A)
* 19 (AD-A)
* S-66A (BE-A)†
* 20 (IE-A)
* 21 (IMP-B)
* 22 (BE-B)
* 23 (S-55C)
* 24 (AD-B)
* 25 (Injun 4, IE-B)
* 26 (EPE-D)
* 27 (BE-C)
* 28 (IMP-C)
* 29 (GEOS-A)
* 30 (Solrad 8)
* 31 (DME-A)
* 32 (AE-B)
* 33 (IMP-D)
* 34 (IMP-F)
* 35 (IMP-E)
* 36 (GEOS-B)
* 37 (Solrad 9)
* 38 (RAE-A)
* 39 (AD-C)
* 40 (Injun 5)
* 41 (IMP-G)
* 42 (Uhuru, SAS-A)
* 43 (IMP-H)
* 44 (Solrad 10)
* 45 (SSS-A)
* 46 (MTS)
* 47 (IMP-I)
* 48 (SAS-B)
* 49 (RAE-B)
* 50 (IMP-J)
* 51 (AE-C)
* 52 (Hawkeye 1)
* 53 (SAS-C)
* 54 (AE-D)
* 55 (AE-E)
* DADE-A†
* DADE-B†
* 56 (ISEE-1)
* 57 (IUE)
* 58 (HCMM)
* 59 (ICE)
* 60 (SAGE)
* 61 (Magsat)
* 62 (DE-1)
* 63 (DE-2)
* 64 (SME)
* 65 (CCE)
* 66 (COBE)
* 67 (EUVE)

|

MIDEX|

* 69 (RXTE)
* 71 (ACE)
* 77 (FUSE)
* 78 (IMAGE)
* 80 (WMAP)
* FAME
* 84 (Swift)
* 85–89 (THEMIS)
* 92 (WISE)
* 95 (TESS)
* 96 (ICON)
* SPHEREx

SMEX|

* 68 (SAMPEX)
* 70 (FAST)
* 73 (TRACE)
* 74 (SWAS)
* 75 (WIRE)†
* 81 (RHESSI)
* 83 (GALEX)
* 90 (AIM)
* 91 (IBEX)
* 93 (NuSTAR)
* 94 (IRIS)
* GEMS
* IXPE
* PUNCH
* TRACERS

UNEX/MO/I|

* HETE-1†
* 72 (SNOE)
* 76 (TERRIERS)†
* 79 (HETE-2)
* INTEGRAL
* 82 (CHIPSat)
* CINDI
* Suzaku
* TWINS
* Hitomi†
* NICER
* GOLD
* XRISM
* GUSTO
* CASE

Proposals|

| Proposals|

* FINESSE
* Arcus
* OHMIC
* ASTRE
* EXCEDE

|

* Green titles indicates active current missions
* Grey titles indicates cancelled missions
* Italics indicate missions yet to launch
* Symbol † indicates failure en route or before intended mission data returned

* v
* t
* e

Space observatories

Operating|

* AGILE (since 2007)
* AMS-02 (since 2011)
* Aoi (since 2018)
* ASTERIA (since 2017)
* Astrosat (since 2015)
* BRITE constellation (since 2013)
* CALET (since 2015)
* Chandra (AXAF) (since 1999)
* DAMPE (since 2015)
* Fermi (since 2008)
* Gaia (since 2013)
* HXMT (Insight) (since 2017)
* Hinode (Solar-B) (since 2006)
* HiRISE (since 2005)
* Hisaki (SPRINT-A) (since 2013)
* Hubble (since 1990)
* INTEGRAL (since 2002)
* IBEX (since 2008)
* IRIS (since 2013)
* ISS-CREAM (since 2017)
* MAXI (since 2009)
* Mikhailo Lomonosov (since 2016)
* Mini-EUSO (since 2019)
* NCLE (since 2018)
* NEOSSat (since 2013)
* NICER (since 2017)
* NuSTAR (since 2012)
* Odin (since 2001)
* SDO (since 2010)
* SOHO (since 1995)
* SOLAR (since 2008)
* Spektr-RG (since 2019)
* Spitzer (since 2003)
* STEREO (since 2006)
* Swift (since 2004)
* TESS (since 2018)
* WISE (since 2009)
* XMM-Newton (since 1999)

Planned|

* CHEOPS (2019)
* iWF-MAXI (2019)
* Astro-1 Telescope (2020)
* ILO-1 (2020)
* LUCI (2020)
* Nano-JASMINE (2020)
* ORBIS (2020)
* Solar Orbiter (SolO) (2020)
* IXPE (2021)
* James Webb (JWST) (2021)
* LORD (2021)
* SVOM (2021)
* XPoSat (2021)
* Euclid (2022)
* Space Solar Telescope (2022)
* XRISM (2022)
* Xuntian (2022)
* K-EUSO (2023)
* Solar-C (2023)
* SPHEREx (2023)
* Small-JASMINE (2024)
* Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission (2025+)
* Spektr-UV (2025)
* WFIRST (2025+)
* PLATO (2026)
* LiteBIRD (2027)
* ARIEL (2028)
* Spektr-M (2030+)
* ATHENA (2031)
* LISA (2034)

Proposed|

* Arcus
* AstroSat-2
* EXCEDE
* Fresnel Imager
* FOCAL
* HabEx
* Hibari
* Hypertelescope
* JEM-EUSO
* LUVOIR
* ATLAST
* HDST
* Lynx
* Nautilus Deep Space Observatory
* New Worlds Mission
* NRO donation to NASA
* OST
* PhoENiX
* Solar-D
* SPICA
* THEIA
* THESEUS

Retired|

* Akari (Astro-F) (2006–2011)
* ALEXIS (1993–2005)
* Alouette 1 (1962–1972)
* Ariel 1 (1962, 1964)
* Ariel 2 (1964)
* Ariel 3 (1967–1969)
* Ariel 4 (1971–1972)
* Ariel 5 (1974–1980)
* Ariel 6 (1979–1982)
* ATM (1973–1974)
* ASCA (Astro-D) (1993–2000)
* Astro-1 (1990)
* BBXRT
* HUT
* Astro-2 (HUT) (1995)
* Astron (1983–1989)
* ANS (1974–1976)
* BeppoSAX (1996–2003)
* CHIPSat (2003–2008)
* Compton (CGRO) (1991–2000)
* CoRoT (2006–2013)
* Cos-B (1975–1982)
* COBE (1989–1993)
* DXS (1993)
* EPOCh (2008)
* EPOXI (2010)
* Explorer 11 (1961)
* EXOSAT (1983–1986)
* EUVE (1992–2001)
* FUSE (1999–2007)
* Kvant-1 (1987–2001)
* GALEX (2003–2013)
* Gamma (1990–1992)
* Ginga (Astro-C) (1987–1991)
* Granat (1989–1998)
* Hakucho (CORSA-b) (1979–1985)
* HALCA (MUSES-B) (1997–2005)
* HEAO-1 (1977–1979)
* Herschel (2009–2013)
* Hinotori (Astro-A) (1981–1991)
* HEAO-2 (Einstein Obs.) (1978–1982)
* HEAO-3 (1979–1981)
* HETE-2 (2000–2008)
* Hipparcos (1989–1993)
* IUE (1978–1996)
* IRAS (1983)
* IRTS (1995–1996)
* ISO (1996–1998)
* IXAE (1996–2004)
* Kepler (2009–2018)
* Kristall (1990–2001)
* LEGRI (1997–2002)
* LISA Pathfinder (2015–2017)
* MOST (2003–2019)
* MSX (1996–1997)
* OAO-2 (1968–1973)
* OAO-3 (Copernicus) (1972–1981)
* Orbiting Solar Observatory
* OSO 1
* OSO 2/OSO B
* OSO 3
* OSO 4
* OSO 5
* OSO 6
* OSO 7
* OSO 8
* Orion 1 (1971)
* Orion 2 (1973)
* PAMELA (2006–2016)
* PicSat (2018)
* Planck (2009–2013)
* RELIKT-1 (1983–1984)
* R/HESSI (2002–2018)
* ROSAT (1990–1999)
* RXTE (1995–2012)
* SAMPEX (1992–2004)
* SAS-B (1972–1973)
* SAS-C (1975–1979)
* Solwind (1979–1985)
* Spektr-R (2011–2019)
* Suzaku (Astro-EII) (2005–2015)
* Taiyo (SRATS) (1975–1980)
* Tenma (Astro-B) (1983–1985)
* Uhuru (1970–1973)
* Vanguard 3 (1959)
* WMAP (2001–2010)
* Yokoh (Solar-A) (1991–2001)

Hibernating
(Mission completed)|

* SWAS (1998–2005)
* TRACE (1998–2010)

Lost|

* OAO-1 (1966)
* OAO-B (1970)
* CORSA (1976)
* OSO C (1965)
* ABRIXAS (1999)
* HETE-1 (1996)
* WIRE (1999)
* Astro-E (2000)
* Tsubame (2014–2015)
* Hitomi (Astro-H) (2016)

Cancelled|

* AOSO
* Astro-G
* Constellation-X
* Darwin
* Destiny
* EChO
* Eddington
* FAME
* FINESSE
* GEMS
* HOP
* IXO
* JDEM
* LOFT
* OSO J
* OSO K
* Sentinel
* SIM & SIMlite
* SNAP
* SPOrt
* TAUVEX
* TPF
* XEUS
* XIPE

See also|

* Great Observatories program
* List of space telescopes
* List of proposed space observatories
* List of X-ray space telescopes

* Category

* v
* t
* e

SpaceX rocket launches

SpaceX launch vehicles|

* Falcon 1
* Falcon 9
* v1.0
* v1.1
* Full Thrust
* Block 5
* Falcon Heavy

Falcon 1 missions|

* Demo 1† (FalconSAT-2)
* Demo 2†
* Flight 3†
* Trailblazer
* PRESat
* NanoSail-D
* Explorers
* Ratsat
* RazakSAT

Falcon 9 missions|

| Demonstration flights|

* Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit
* NASA COTS Demo Flight 1
* Dragon C2+
* Crew Dragon Demo-1
* Crew Dragon in-flight abort test

|

Dragon ISS logistics|

* CRS-1
* CRS-2
* CRS-3
* CRS-4
* CRS-5
* CRS-6
* CRS-7†
* CRS-8
* CRS-9
* CRS-10
* CRS-11
* CRS-12
* CRS-13
* CRS-14
* CRS-15
* CRS-16
* CRS-17
* CRS-18
* CRS-19
* CRS-20
* CRS-21
* CRS-22
* (missions contracted up to CRS-26)

Dragon 2 crewed missions|

* Crew Dragon Demo-2
* USCV-1
* Bigelow Crew 1

Commercial satellites|

* SES-8
* Thaicom 6
* Orbcomm OG2 × 6
* AsiaSat 8
* AsiaSat 6
* ABS-3A / Eutelsat 115 West B
* TürkmenÄlem 52°E
* Orbcomm OG2 × 11
* SES-9
* JCSAT-14
* Thaicom 8
* ABS-2A / Eutelsat 117 West B
* JCSAT-16
* Amos-6†
* Iridium NEXT 1–10
* EchoStar 23
* SES-10
* Inmarsat-5 F4
* BulgariaSat-1
* Iridium NEXT 11–20
* Intelsat 35e
* Iridium NEXT 21–30
* SES-11
* Koreasat 5A
* Iridium NEXT 31–40
* Hispasat 30W-6
* Iridium NEXT 41–50
* Bangabandhu-1
* Iridium NEXT 51–55
* SES-12
* Telstar 19V
* Iridium NEXT 56–65
* Telkom 4 (Merah Putih)
* Telstar 18V
* Es'hail 2
* SSO-A
* Iridium NEXT 66–75
* Nusantara Satu \+ Beresheet
* Amos 17
* JCSAT-18
* SXM 7
* SXM 8
* Türksat 5A

Scientific satellites|

* CASSIOPE
* DSCOVR
* Jason-3
* Formosat-5
* TESS
* GRACE-FO
* SAOCOM 1A
* RADARSAT Constellation
* SAOCOM 1B
* Hakuto-R
* Jason-CS
* KPLO
* DART

Military satellites|

* NROL-76
* X-37B OTV-5
* Zuma
* SES-16 / GovSat-1
* Paz
* GPS IIIA-01
* ANASIS-II
* GPS IIIA-03
* GPS IIIA-04
* GPS IIIA-05
* SARah 1
* GPS IIIA-06
* SARah 2/3

Starlink constellation|

* 2019
* Starlink group 0
* 1
* 2020
* Starlink group 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* 6
* 7
* 8
* 9

Rideshares|

* 2021
* Mission 1
* 2022
* Mission 2
* 2023
* Mission 3

Falcon Heavy missions|

* Test flight
* Tesla Roadster
* Arabsat-6A
* USAF STP-2
* DSX
* FormoSat-7
* LightSail 2
* GPIM
* DSAC
* ISAT
* AFSPC-44
* AFSPC-52
* ViaSat-3 class

* Italics indicate future missions and vehicles under development. † denotes failed missions and destroyed vehicles.

* v
* t
* e

Spacecraft missions to the Moon

Exploration
programs|

* American
* Apollo
* Artemis
* Commercial Lunar Payload Services
* Lunar Orbiter
* Lunar Precursor
* Pioneer
* Ranger
* Surveyor
* Chinese (Chang'e)
* Indian (Chandrayaan)
* Japanese
* Russian
* Luna-Glob
* Soviet
* Crewed
* Luna
* Lunokhod
* Zond

Active
missions|

| Orbiters|

* ARTEMIS
* Chang'e 5-T1 (service module)
* Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
* Queqiao (relay satellite at L2)
* Chandrayaan-2

|

Landers|

* Chang'e 3
* Chang'e 4

Rovers|

* Yutu-2

Past
missions|

| Crewed landings|

* Apollo 11
* 12
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* (List of Apollo astronauts)

|

Orbiters|

* Apollo 8
* 10
* Apollo Lunar Module
* Chang'e 1
* 2
* Chandrayaan-1
* Clementine
* Explorer 35
* 49
* GRAIL
* Hiten
* LADEE
* Longjiang-2
* Luna 10
* 11
* 12
* 14
* 19
* 22
* Lunar Orbiter 1
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* Lunar Prospector
* PFS-1
* PFS-2
* SMART-1
* SELENE (Kaguya, Okina, Ouna)

Impactors|

* LCROSS
* Luna 2
* Moon Impact Probe
* Ranger 4
* 6
* 7
* 8
* 9

Landers|

* Apollo Lunar Module ×6
* Luna 9
* 13
* 16
* 17
* 20
* 21
* 23
* 24
* Surveyor 1
* 3
* 5
* 6
* 7

Rovers|

* Lunar Roving Vehicle
* Apollo 15
* 16
* 17
* Lunokhod 1
* 2
* Yutu

Sample return|

* Apollo 11
* 12
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* Luna 16
* 20
* 24

Failed landings|

* Surveyor 2
* 4
* Luna 5
* 7
* 8
* 15
* 18
* Beresheet
* Vikram / Pragyan

Flybys|

* 4M
* Apollo 13
* AsiaSat-3 / HGS-1
* Chang'e 5-T1 / Xiaofei
* Geotail
* ICE
* Longjiang-1
* Luna 1
* 3
* 4
* 6
* Mariner 10
* Nozomi
* Pioneer 4
* Ranger 5
* STEREO
* TESS
* WMAP
* WIND
* Zond 3
* 5
* 6
* 7
* 8
* PAS-22

Planned
missions|

| Artemis|

* Artemis 1 (2020)
* ArgoMoon
* BioSentinel
* Cislunar Explorers
* CU-E3
* CuSP
* EQUULEUS
* LunaH-Map
* Lunar Flashlight
* Lunar IceCube
* NEA Scout
* OMOTENASHI
* SkyFire
* Team Miles
* Artemis 2 (2022)
* Artemis 3 (2024)
* Artemis 4 (2025)
* Artemis 5 (2026)
* Artemis 6 (2027)
* Artemis 7 (2028)
* Artemis 8 (2028)

|

CLPS|

* CAPSTONE (December 2020)
* Nova-C (2021)
* Peregrine M1 (Jul 2021)
* VIPER (2022)

Luna-Glob|

* Luna 25 (2021)
* Luna 26 (2024)
* Luna 27 (2025)
* Luna 28 (2027)
* Luna 29 (2028)
* Luna 30 (2028)
* Luna 31 (2028)

CLEP|

* Chang'e 5 (mid-2020)
* Chang'e 6 (2023–2024)
* Chang'e 7 (2023)
* Chang'e 8 (2027)

Others|

* Moon Express Lunar Scout (Jul 2020)
* International Lunar Observatory
* MoonLIGHT
* ALINA (2021)
* CubeRover
* Uni
* Hakuto-R M1 (Oct 2021)
* MoonRanger (2022)
* SLIM (Jan 2022)
* KPLO (Jul 2022)
* DESTINY+ (2022)
* Hakuto-R M2 (Mar 2023)
* #dearMoon project (2023)

Proposed
missions|

| Robotic|

* Chandrayaan-3 (November 2020)
* Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (2024)
* Artemis-7
* Blue Moon
* BOLAS
* Garatéa-L
* ISOCHRON
* Lunar Pathfinder
* McCandless
* Moon Diver
* XL-1

|

Crewed|

* DSE-Alpha
* Lunar Gateway (Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander)
* Lunar Orbital Station

Cancelled /
concepts|

* Altair
* Baden-Württemberg 1
* European Lunar Explorer
* International Lunar Network
* LEO
* LK
* Lunar-A
* Lunar Lander
* Lunar Mission One
* Lunar Observer
* Lunokhod 3
* MoonLITE
* MoonRise
* Prospector
* Resource Prospector
* SELENE-2
* Ukrselena

See also|

* Colonization of the Moon
* Google Lunar X Prize
* List of lunar probes
* List of missions to the Moon
* List of artificial objects on the Moon
* Lunar resources
* Apollo 17 Moon mice
* Moon landing conspiracy theories
* Apollo 11 anniversaries
* List of crewed lunar lander designs

* Missions are ordered by launch date. Crewed missions are in italics.

* v
* t
* e

Orbital launches in 2018

January|

USA-280 / Zuma - SuperView / Gaojing-1 03 * 04 - BeiDou-3 M7 * M8 - Cartosat-2F * Microsat * INS-1C * PicSat * ICEYE-X1 * Fox-1D - LKW-3 - ASNARO-2 - Jilin 1 07 * 08 * Xiaoxiang * Zhou Enlai * Kepler * Quantutong-1 - USA-282 / SBIRS-GEO-4 - "Still Testing" (Dove Pioneer * Lemur-2 × 2 * Humanity Star) - Yaogan 30K * 30L * 30M * Weina 1A - SES-14 * Al Yah 3 - GovSat-1 / SES-16

February|

Kanopus-V No. 3 * No. 4 * S-Net × 4  * Lemur-2 × 4 - CSES * ÑuSat 4, 5 - TRICOM-1R - Falcon Heavy test flight (Tesla Roadster) - BeiDou-3 M3 * M4 - Progress MS-08 - Paz * Tintin A & B - IGS-Optical 6

March|

GOES-17 - Hispasat 30W-6 - O3b × 4 (FM13 to FM16) - Soyuz MS-08 - GSAT-6A - EMKA / Kosmos 2525 - BeiDou-3 M9 * M10 - Iridium NEXT 41–50 - Gaofen-1-02 * 03 * 04

April|

Dragon CRS-14 * 1KUNS-PF * Irazú * UBAKUSAT - Superbird-B3 * HYLAS-4 - Yaogan 31A * 31B * 31C * Weina 1B - IRNSS-1I - AFSPC-11 * EAGLE - Blagovest-12L / Kosmos 2526 - TESS - Sentinel-3B - Zhuhai-1 × 5

May|

Apstar 6C - InSight * MarCO A, B - Gaofen-5 - Bangabandhu-1 - Chang'e 4 Relay - Cygnus CRS OA-9E - Iridium NEXT 51–55 * GRACE-FO × 2

June|

Gaofen-6 - SES-12 - Fengyun-2H - Soyuz MS-09 - IGS-Radar 6 - GLONASS-M 756 / Kosmos 2527 - XJSS A * B - Dragon CRS-15 (Biarri-Squad × 3 * BHUTAN-1 * Maya-1 * UiTMSAT-1)

July|

PRSS-1 * PakTES-1A - BeiDou IGSO-7 - Progress MS-09 - Telstar 19V - Galileo FOC 19–22 - Iridium NEXT 56–65 - BeiDou-3 M5 * M6 - Gaofen 11

August|

Merah Putih - Parker Solar Probe - ADM-Aeolus - BeiDou-3 M11 * M12

September|

HY-1C - Telstar 18V - ICESat-2 — SSTL S1-4 * NovaSAR-1 - BeiDou-3 M13 * M14 - Kounotori 7 - Azerspace-2 / Intelsat 38 * Horizons-3e - CentiSpace-1-S1

October|

SAOCOM 1A - Yaogan 32A * 32B - Soyuz MS-10 - BeiDou-3 M15 * M16 - AEHF-4 - BepiColombo - HY 2B - Lotos-S1 No. 3 / Kosmos 2528 - Weilai-1 - CFOSAT - GOSAT-2 * KhalifaSat * Diwata-2B * Stars-AO * AUTcube2

November|

BeiDou-3 G1Q - GLONASS-M 757 / Kosmos 2529 - MetOp-C - "It's Business Time" (Lemur-2 × 2 * CICERO * IRVINE01 * NABEO * Proxima × 2) - GSAT-29 - Es'hail 2 - Progress MS-10 - Cygnus NG-10 - BeiDou-3 M17 * M18 - Jiading-1 * Tianping-1A, 1B * Tianzhi-1 * Weixing-6 - Mohammed VI-B - HySIS * Blacksky Global 1 * 29 more CubeSats - Strela-3M 16–18 / Kosmos 2530–2532

December|

Soyuz MS-11 - CROPIS * ESEO * IRVINE02 * Orbital Reflector (one of 64 CubeSats on the SSO-A mission) - GSAT-11 * GEO-KOMPSAT 2A - SpaceX CRS-16 - SaudiSat 5A, 5B - Chang'e 4 (Yutu-2) - "This One's For Pickering" (RSat-P * CubeSail * total 16 CubeSats) - GSAT-7A - CSO-1 - Blagovest-13L / Kosmos 2533 - Hongyun 1 - USA-289 / GPS IIIA-01 - TJSW-3 - Kanopus-V No. 5 * No. 6 * GRUS-1 * D-Star ONE iSat * D-Star ONE Sparrow * Flock-3k × 12 * Lemur-2 × 8 * Lume-1 * ZACube-2 - Hongyan 1 * Yunhai-2 01–06

Launches are separated by dashes ( - ), payloads by dots ( * ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). CubeSats are smaller.
Crewed flights are bolded. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets).

* v
* t
* e

2018 in space

* « 2017

2019 »

Space probe launches |

* TESS (lunar flyby; Apr 2018)
* InSight / Mars Cube One (mission to Mars; May 2018)
* Parker Solar Probe (solar space mission; Aug 2018)
* BepiColombo (mission to Mercury; Oct 2018)
* Chang'e 4 / Yutu-2 (mission to the Moon; Dec 2018)

Impact events|

* 2018 LA
* Kamchatka meteor

Selected NEOs|

* Asteroid close approaches
* 2010 WC9
* 2017 VR12
* 2017 YE5
* 2017 YZ1
* 2018 AH
* 2018 BD
* 2018 BF3
* 2018 CB
* 2018 CC
* 2018 CF2
* 2018 CL
* 2018 CN2
* 2018 CY2
* 2018 DV1
* 2018 GE3
* 2018 PD20
* 2018 LF16
* 2018 WV1
* (276033) 2002 AJ129
* (163899) 2003 SD220
* (505657) 2014 SR339

Exoplanets |

* Gliese 1132 c
* K2-141b
* K2-146b
* K2-148b
* K2-155d
* K2-229b
* K2-239b
* K2-239c
* K2-239d
* K2-288Bb
* Barnard's Star b
* EPIC 211945201 b
* HD 89345 b
* KELT-21b
* NGTS-3Ab

Discoveries|

* AT2018cow
* Novae (List)
* Carina
* Musca
* Perseus
* MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1
* Hyperion proto-supercluster
* 2015 TH367 (orbit announced)
* 2015 TG387 (orbit announced)
* 2017 OF69 (announced)
* 2018 VG18

Comets |

* C/2018 V1
* 46P/Wirtanen
* Hyperbolic comets
* C/2017 U7 (announced in 2018)
* C/2018 C2 (Lemmon)
* C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS)

Space exploration|

* Hayabusa2 (asteroid Ryugu arrival; June 2018)
* OSIRIS-REx (asteroid Bennu arrival; Dec 2018)
* New Horizons (encounter with 486958 Arrokoth; Dec 2018 / Jan 2019)
* Dawn retirement
* Kepler retirement

* Category:2017 in space — Category:2018 in space — Category:2019 in space

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Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Read more

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*[no.]: number
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*[t]: Discuss this template
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*[MIDEX]: Medium-Class Explorers
*[UNEX]: University-class Explorers
*[MO]: Missions of Opportunity
*[I]: International Missions