By Elton Gomes
Nasa is preparing to launch a washing machine-sized spacecraft worth $ 337 million into space. The probe is designed to search for alien planets beyond the earth’s solar system, as per media reports. The spacecraft will hunt for Earth-like planets that might harbour life.
Nasa’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has been scheduled to launch at 6.32 pm (22:32 GMT) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which will lift-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The @SpaceX #Falcon9 for @NASA_TESS is vertical on SLC-40 @NASAKennedy. Go #TESS pic.twitter.com/YtZgL0oq2J
NASA_TESS (@NASA_TESS) April 16, 2018
TESS will scour the sky, scanning over 200,000 stars for signs of potential planets orbiting them, which cause a dip in their brightnessknown as a transit. TESS is also tasked with assembling a catalogue of bright starts, and nearby planets. Other telescopes can then follow up on the newly discovered planetary objects, which is hoped to fuel more discoveries about our neighbours in space.
LIVE NOW: Hear from experts about the tools and science instruments @NASA_TESS will use to hunt for planets beyond our solar system! https://t.co/ZuxLDtRxxM Have questions? Use #askNASA pic.twitter.com/eqeOWtDuB9
NASA (@NASA) April 15, 2018
TESS is the successor to NASA’s Kepler mission. However, TESS will adopt a different strategy than the one currently adopted by Kepler.
A final picture of @NASA_TESS, @NASA‘s next #exoplanet hunting mission, before it was enclosed within the @SpaceX #Falcon9 for launch! Go #TESS! pic.twitter.com/nBibjgAH2r
NASA_TESS (@NASA_TESS) April 14, 2018
TESS has four cameras that will map out the sky in segments, studying each portion of the sky for 27 days at a time, before the spacecraft moves on to the next chunk of space.
“We’re expecting to find 2,000-3,000 planets that are certainly below the size of our Jupiter and most of them below the size of Neptune; so, the ones that have the potential for being terrestrial, for being rocky,” Jennifer Burt from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said, BBC reported.
Here’s what happened
In May 2017, the renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking predicted that in order for the human race to survive beyond this century, humans must colonise a new planet within the next 100 years. Hawking was of the opinion that the human race can survive only if it looks to life beyond Earth.
This is where TESS’s mission could gain significance. Environmental damage, overuse of resources, and overpopulation seem to have sapped the Earth of its natural resources. Hawking’s prediction could be more on point than any of us realiseperhaps we do need to move to another habitable planet.
American astronaut and engineer, Buzz Aldrin, the second human to step foot on the moon, believes that now is the time to think about what Mars will be like in the future. Aldrin has helped develop a virtual reality (VR) experience wherein people can travel to Mars.
The Red Planet is on the radar of several space agencies, including Nasa and ISRO. However, Elon Musk’s SpaceX may just beat the competition, and be the first to set up a Mars colony.
Why you should care
Space missions like TESS are conduits to an unknown world, and can provide extensive data that may help researchers not just find habitable planets, but also make other exciting discoveries that enhances our knowledge of the universe we inhabit.
Missions like TESS are also important because they allows us to never stop questioning, and harness technology to push the frontiers of human thought.