Extended Mission
TESS
TESS watches broad swaths of sky for tiny dips in starlight caused by planets crossing their stars. Its unusual high Earth orbit supports stable, long-duration observations with low interference.
Technical specifications
CATEGORY
Observatory
TYPE
Telescope
COUNTRY
United States
OPERATOR
NASA / MIT
LAUNCH DATE
Apr 18, 2018
LAUNCH SITE
Cape Canaveral
ORBIT CLASS
GEO
ALTITUDE · KM
234,882
ORBITAL PERIOD · MIN
19,655.63
INCLINATION · DEG
56.81
APOGEE · KM
354,239
PERIGEE · KM
115,524
Updated automatically every 30 minutes