If the vagaries of weather and rocket science do not intervene, the most ambitious search for alien worlds around the brightest stars in the sky will begin on Monday with the launch of Nasa’s newest planet-hunting spacecraft. After final preparations at the weekend, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or Tess, is on course for take off as early as 6.32pm local time (11.32pm UK) from Cape Canaveral in Florida, the first opportunity mission controllers have to launch in a window that remains open until June.
The lofting of hardware high into space often calls for a holding of breath, but for those who have ploughed time and money into the $200m (£140m) Tess space telescope there is an extra frisson. Theirs is the first Nasa mission to hitch a ride on a Falcon 9, a rocket made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, and which was certified for such missions only in February. Barring any mishaps, such as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” – a glorious euphemism Musk used to describe the explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket stage in 2015 – Tess will be flung into a highly elliptical orbit around Earth that has never been attempted before. The space telescope will swing as far out as the moon as it scours the heavens for planets, then swoop back towards Earth to beam home its data. Each orbit will take nearly 14 days.
Human has found several planets in space search, but none of them habitable. Scientists think that the life may exist on Mars, but it is not yet proved. They are trying to reach there, but still far away from this dream. They are now going to launch a new spacecraft called Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in search of alien worlds and exoplanets. According to scientists, billions of exoplanets are already revolving around the stars outside our solar system. Those exoplanets may have water and atmosphere to support life there. In order to have a clear view of those planets, scientists are going to deliver Tess that will fly two years in space and observe the planets from the nearest position. Tess will help gather essential data that will be needed to know whether those planets habitable or not.
Read more news here: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/15/nasa-to-launch-tess-on-hunt-for-20000-new-worlds