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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: 648 Failures: 15 Pending: 122

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

NASA

TESS Status Updates

Jan. 23, 2026 NASA’s TESS Returns to Science Observations NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) entered safe mode Jan. 15 and returned to normal science operations Jan. 18.  The operations team determined the issue arose when…

NASA

NASA AI Model That Found 370 Exoplanets Now Digs Into TESS Data

Trained on data from NASA’s exoplanet-hunting missions, the open-source ExoMiner++ deep learning model uses an advanced algorithm to validate new planets.

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…

Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Space Launch Complex 40


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 14 hours ago
Cygnus CRS-2 NG-24 (S.S. Steven R. Nagel)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

This is the 24th flight of the Orbital ATK's uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its 23rd flight to the International Space Station under the Com…


Smart Dragon 3
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South China Sea (launch location 3) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

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Falcon 9
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Long March 6A
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A batch of 5 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Long March 8
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SpaceSail Polar Group 07
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

18 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…


Minotaur IV
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Space Launch Complex 8 - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

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A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Atlas V 551
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1 week, 1 day ago
Amazon Leo (LA-05)
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Soyuz 2.1a/Fregat-M
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Meridian-M No.21L
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Note: Payload identity uncertain. Meridian is a series of communications satellite for military and civilian use.


Tianlong-3
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1 week, 2 days ago
Demo Flight
Tianlong-3 Launch Pad - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

First test launch of Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3 rocket.