Science, Space

NASA to Discuss Upcoming Launch of Next Planet Hunter on March 28 (Video)


The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a NASA Explorer mission launching in 2018 to study exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. TESS will discover thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest stars in the sky. Credits: NASA GSFC

Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—March 19, 2018

By: Felicia Chou and Claire Saravia

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).

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.

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. Members of the public can ask questions during the briefing by participating in person, or using #AskNASA.

For more information on TESS, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/tess

Source: www.nasa.gov

 


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