Update: TESS

Just a quick note that TESS has had a few thruster boosts as planned to propel it into the correct orbit. Another burn next week will be timed to occur as TESS reaches its new apogee, followed by two additional perigee maneuvers that will fine-tune the satellite’s trajectory and set up for a flyby of the moon May 17.

Artist’s illustration of TESS in space. Credit: NASA/Goddard

Since the launch April 18, ground controllers at Orbital ATK in Dulles, Virginia, which built the spacecraft, have switched on key components including reaction wheels and star trackers used to keep TESS properly pointed in space. On Wednesday, engineers sent commands to turn on the satellite’s Ka-band transmitter, which routes signals through a high-gain antenna needed to beam full-frame images back to Earth from TESS’s four 16.8-megapixel science cameras.

Controllers planned to begin activating the cameras as soon as Thursday, beginning several weeks of calibrations to make sure the MIT-built imagers are ready for observations.

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