Washington, April 12: NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or Tess aimed at detecting planets outside our solar system, is set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida on April 16.
The mission is scheduled to launch no earlier around 4.02 a.m. on April 17 (India time) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, NASA said on Wednesday.
Tess is NASA's next step in the search for exoplanets, including those that could support life.
Once in orbit, Tess will spend about two years surveying 200,000 of the brightest stars near the Sun to search for planets outside our solar system.
Tess will find the most promising exoplanets orbiting relatively nearby stars, giving future researchers a rich set of new targets for more comprehensive follow-up studies, including the potential to assess their capacity to harbour life.
With the help of a gravitational assist from the Moon, the spacecraft will settle into a 13.7-day orbit around Earth, NASA said in an earlier statement.
Sixty days after the launch and following tests of its instruments, the satellite will begin its initial two-year mission. Four wide-field cameras will give Tess a field-of-view that covers 85 per cent of our entire sky.
Within this vast visual perspective, the sky has been divided into 26 sectors that Tess will observe one by one.
The first year of observations will map the 13 sectors encompassing the southern sky, and the second year will map the 13 sectors of the northern sky.
The spacecraft will be looking for a phenomenon known as a transit, where a planet passes in front of its star, causing a periodic and regular dip in the star's brightness.
NASA's Kepler spacecraft used the same method to spot more than 2,600 confirmed exoplanets, most of them orbiting faint stars 300 to 3,000 light-years away
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Video of Amit Shah scolding son Jay Shah goes viral
Ahmedabad: A viral video showing Union Home Minister Amit Shah scolding his son Jay Shah during an aarti at Ahmedabad’s Jagannath Temple has caught the attention of social media users. The incident took place on the second day of Shah’s three-day visit to Gujarat.
In the video, Amit Shah, while performing the aarti, brings the flame near Jay Shah’s son. Concerned for his baby’s safety, Jay attempts to shield him from the flames. Amit Shah, noticing his concern, jokingly remarked, "Kassu nai thay, tare kai novo navay no chokro che" (Nothing will happen; do you have a new and unique son?). His playful comment left VIPs and attendees chuckling, while Jay Shah appeared momentarily startled.
Amit Shah, along with his family, visited the Jagannath Temple as part of his Uttarayan celebrations in Ahmedabad. During the visit, they performed rituals including cow worship. In another lighthearted moment, Amit Shah repeated his comment about Jay Shah’s son, adding to the humorous atmosphere.
Amit Shah's Gujarat tour also included the inauguration of several developmental projects, such as the Ghatlodia Police Station, a modern police housing project, a state-of-the-art auditorium in Kalol, and a Railway Underbridge in Kalol.
બાપને વ્હાલો દીકરો પણ
— Sagar Patoliya (@kathiyawadiii) January 14, 2025
દાદાની તો વાત જ અલગ છે..
અમિત શાહની દીકરા જય શાહને મીઠી ટકોર! #Gujarat #AmitShah pic.twitter.com/6QpYL6CPgI
