Watch the Launch

Additional Media

TESS Mission

SpaceX is targeting launch of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) on Wednesday, April 18 from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The 30-seco...

TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: High Earth Orbit
Mission: Astrophysics

High Earth Orbit Space Launch Complex 40 Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA Probability: 90% #TESS
B1045 - Of Course I Still Love You

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a NASA space telescope, designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method. TESS will identify planets ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants, orbiting a wide range of stellar types and orbital distances. The principal goal of the TESS mission is to detect small planets with bright host stars in the solar neighborhood, so that detailed characterizations of the planets and their atmospheres can be performed.

Falcon 9

Family:
Configuration: Block 4

The Full Thrust variants first stage includes all systems necessary for an operational re-use of stages while the second stage is operated as an expendable rocket stage.

See Details
Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    71.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.65 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    546.0 T
  • Thrust
    6804.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Falcon 9
  • Family
  • Variant
    Block 4
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Falcon 9 Block 4
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $50000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    22800.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    8305.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Booster Info


B1045

Status: Expended


Type: Core
Flight Proven: No
First Flight: April 18, 2018
Last Flight: June 29, 2018
Flights: 2
Landings Attempted: 1
Landings Successful: 1

Landing Information

The first stage of the Falcon 9 landed on the ASDS, OCISLY, stationed of the east coast.

Result: Successful Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship landing at Of Course I Still Love You.

SpaceX

SpaceX

(SpX)

CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 601 Failures: 15 Pending: 119

Agency Type:

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

INFO WIKI

Related News

NASASpaceflight

TESS finds three Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting binary stars

Through international collaboration, a team of astronomers has confirmed two exoplanets and found hints of… The post TESS finds three Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting binary stars appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

NASA

Astronomers Map Stellar ‘Polka Dots’ Using NASA’s TESS, Kepler

Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using observations from NASA missions of orbiting planets crossing their stars’ faces. The model builds on a technique researchers have used for decades to…

ESA

Clingy planets can trigger own doom, suspect Cheops and TESS

Astronomers using the European Space Agency’s Cheops mission have caught an exoplanet that seems to be triggering flares of radiation from the star it orbits. These tremendous explosions are blasting away the planet’s wispy atmosphere, cau…

NASA

NASA’s TESS Spots Record-Breaking Stellar Triplets

Professional and amateur astronomers teamed up with artificial intelligence to find an unmatched stellar trio called TIC 290061484, thanks to cosmic “strobe lights” captured by NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite).  The syst…

NASASpaceflight

Using data from Spitzer and TESS, scientists discover exoplanet littered with volcanoes

Using data collected by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope and NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a team of scientists has discovered an exoplanet that could potentially be covered with volcanoes. The exoplanet is Ear…

Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Space Launch Complex 40


Falcon 9
Success
10 hours, 14 minutes ago
Starlink Group 15-12
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
12 hours, 54 minutes ago
Raise and Shine (RAISE-4)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

RAISE-4 (RApid Innovative payload demonstration Satellite-4) is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) satellite for on-orbit demonstrations of …


Kuaizhou 11
Success
1 day, 14 hours ago
DEAR-5
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

DEAR-5 is a commercial in-orbit payload and micro-gravity experiments hosting spacecraft developed by Chinese commercial company AZSPACE for various …


Long March 12
Success
2 days, 17 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 16
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group. …


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 18 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-90
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 4 hours ago
Starlink Group 15-11
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Kinetica 1
Success
4 days, 12 hours ago
9 satellites
Launch Area 130 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Share ride of 9 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit: * Satellite 813 (United Arab Emirates) * Jilin-1 Gaofen 07B-01/07C-01/07D-01 * Dongpo-15 …


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 20 hours ago
NROL-77
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.


Long March 3B/E
Success
5 days ago
TJSW-22
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Long March 4B
Success
5 days, 12 hours ago
Yaogan 47
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

The Yaogan 47 is a Chinese military “remote sensing” satellite of unknown purposes.