Washing machine sized satellite to scan more than 200,000 stars for planets
TAMPA, UNITED STATES: NASA is poised to launch a $337 million washing machine-sized spacecraft that aims to vastly expand mankind's search for planets beyond our solar system, particularly closer, Earth-sized ones that might harbor life.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is scheduled to launch Monday at 6:32 pm (2232 GMT) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Its main goal over the next two years is to scan more than 200,000 of the brightest stars for signs of planets circling them and causing a dip in brightness known as a transit.
NASA predicts that TESS will discover 20,000 exoplanets -- or planets outside the solar system -- including more than 50 Earth-sized planets and up to 500 planets less than twice the size of Earth.
"They are going to be orbiting the nearest, brightest stars," Elisa Quintana, TESS scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told reporters on Sunday.
"We might even find planets that orbit stars that we can even see with the naked eye," she added.
"So in the next few years we might even be able to walk outside and point at a star and know that it has a planet. This is the future."
TESS is designed as a follow-on to the US space agency's Kepler spacecraft, which was the first of its kind and launched in 2009. Now, the aging spacecraft is low on fuel and near the end of its life.
Kepler found a massive trove of exoplanets by focusing on one patch of sky, which contained about 150,000 stars like the Sun.
The Kepler mission found 2,300 confirmed exoplanets and nearly 4,500 candidates. But many were too distant and dim to study further.
TESS, with its four advanced cameras, will scan an area that is 350 times larger, comprising 85 percent of the sky in the first two years alone.
"By looking at such a large section of the sky -- this kind of stellar real estate -- we open up the ability to cherry-pick the best stars to do follow up science," said Jenn Burt, a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
"On average the stars that TESS finds observes be 30-100 times brighter and 10 times closer than the stars that Kepler focused on."
Since TESS uses the same method as Kepler for finding potential planets, by tracking the dimming of light when a celestial body passes in front of a star, the next step is for ground-based and space telescopes to peer closer.
The Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space telescope, scheduled to launch in 2020, should be able to reveal more about planets' mass, density and the makeup of their atmosphere.
"TESS forms a bridge from what we have learned about exoplanets to date and where we are headed in the future," said Jeff Volosin, TESS project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
By focusing on planets dozens to hundreds of light-years way, TESS should be a stepping stone to future breakthroughs, he said.
"With the hope that someday, in the next decades, we will be able to identify the potential for life to exist outside the solar system."
Weather was expected to be 80 percent favorable for launch.
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MP HC sets up judicial commission to probe water contamination in Indore
Indore (PTI): The Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday set up a commission of inquiry comprising a former HC judge to probe the issue of water contamination in city's Bhagirathpura, saying the matter requires probe by an independent, credible authority and "urgent judicial scrutiny".
It also directed the commission to submit an interim report after four weeks from the date of commencement of proceedings.
A division bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi constituted the commission while hearing several public interest litigations (PILs) filed simultaneously regarding the deaths of several people in Bhagirathpura due to the consumption of contaminated water.
The HC reserved the order after hearing all the parties during the day, and released it late at night.
The state government on Tuesday told the HC that the deaths of 16 people in Indore's Bhagirathpura area was possibly linked to a month-long outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water.
The government presented an audit report of 23 deaths from the current gastroenteritis epidemic in Bhagirathpura before the bench, suggesting that 16 of these fatalities may have been linked to the outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water.
The report, prepared by a committee of five experts from the city's Government Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, stated that the deaths of four people in Bhagirathpura were unrelated to the outbreak, while no conclusion could be reached regarding the cause of death of three other people in the area.
During the hearing, the high court sought to know from the state government the scientific basis behind its report.
The division bench also expressed surprise at the state government's use of the term "verbal autopsy" in relation to the report, sarcastically stating that it had heard the term for the first time.
The HC expressed concern over the Bhagirathpura case, stating that the situation was "alarming," and noted that cases of people falling ill due to contaminated drinking water have also been reported in Mhow, near Indore.
In its order, the HC said the serious issue concerning contamination of the drinking water supply in Bhagirathpura area allegedly resulted in widespread health hazards to residents, including children and elderly persons.
According to the petitioners and media reports, death toll is about 30 till today, but the report depicts only 16 without any basis or record, it said.
It is averred that sewage mixing, leakage in the pipeline, and failure of civic authorities to maintain potable water standards have led to the outbreak of water-borne diseases. Photographs, medical reports, and complaints submitted to the authorities prima facie indicate a matter requiring urgent judicial scrutiny, the HC said.
"Considering the gravity of the allegation and affecting the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the need for an independent fact-finding exercise, the Court is of the opinion that the matter requires investigation by an independent, credible authority," it said.
"Accordingly, we appoint Justice Sushil Kumar Gupta, former judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, a one-man commission of inquiry into the issues relating to water contamination in Bhagirathpura, Indore, and its impact on other areas of the city," the HC added.
As per the order, the commission shall inquire into and submit a report on the cause of contamination -- whether the drinking water supplied to Bhagirathpura was contaminated; and the source and nature of contamination (sewage ingress, industrial discharge, pipeline damage etc).
The panel will also probe the number of actual deaths of affected residents on account of contaminated water; find out the nature of disease reported and adequacy of medical response and preventive measures; suggest immediate steps required to ensure safe drinking water as well as long-term infrastructural and monitoring reforms.
It will also identify and fix responsibility upon the officers and officials found prima facie responsible for the Bhagirathpura water contamination incident, and suggest guidelines for compensation to affected residents, particularly vulnerable sections.
The commission shall have powers of a civil court for the purpose of summoning officials and witnesses; calling up records from the government department, hospitals, laboratories and civic bodies; ordering water quality testing through accredited laboratories; conducting spot inspections.
All state authorities involving district administration, Indore Municipal Corporation, public health engineering department and Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board shall extend full co-operation and provide records as sought by the commission, it said.
The state government shall provide office space, staff, and logistical support to the commission, it said.
During the hearing in the day, the state government also presented a status report to the court in this matter.
According to reports, a total of 454 patients were admitted to local hospitals during the vomiting and diarrhea outbreak, of whom 441 have been discharged after treatment, and 11 are currently hospitalised.
According to officials, due to a leak in the municipal drinking water pipeline in Bhagirathpura, sewage from a toilet was also mixed in the water.
