Tags: NASA, Satellite Launch, Scientific Satellite, Exoplanet, Scientific Research
Publication: CBSNews.com
Publication Date: 04/08/2013

Artist’s rendering of TESS in orbit Image credit: MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics & Space Research

NASA has announced a $200 million grant to fund the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) project. TESS will use telescopes to assess the sky and possibly discover new transition exoplanets in the habitable zones of nearby starts. The survey will cover 400 times as much sky as any previous mission, according to reports; it will specially focus on planets similar to Earth. TESS is expected to launch in 2017.

NASA also approved the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), which will measure the variability of cosmic x-ray sources (called x-ray timing) from the International Space Station.

Both the TESS and NICER projects will be included as part of NASA’s Explorer program, one of the agency’s oldest continuous programs designed to provide low-cost access to space. Satellite mission grants are capped at $200 million and space station mission costs are capped at $55 million.

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