SPACE: NASA is preparing a mission to search for habitable planets elsewhere in space.
On April 16, the agency will launch its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which “will be looking for a phenomenon known as a transit, where a planet passes in front of its star, causing a periodic and regular dip in the star’s brightness,” NASA stated.
TESS will be focusing on stars less than 300 light-years away.
Researchers will “use spectroscopy, the study of the absorption and emission of light, to determine a planet’s mass, density and atmospheric composition,” according to the agency. They will study certain details about the planets to decide if they could harbor living things.
On April 16, the spacecraft will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
“Four wide-field cameras will give TESS a field-of-view that covers 85 percent of our entire sky,” NASA reports. “Within this vast visual perspective, the sky has been divided into 26 sectors that TESS will observe one by one. The first of observations will map the 13 sectors encompassing the southern sky, and the second year will map the 13 sectors of the northern sky.”
Not content to watch the study of space from Earth?
NASA is also seeking new flight directors.
“Flight directors play a critical role in the success of our nation’s human spaceflight missions,” said Brian Kelly, director of Flight Operations at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. “The job is tough, the responsibilities are immense, and the challenges can seem insurmountable. But the experiences and personal rewards are incredible.”
If you think you’ve got the “right stuff,” applications can be submitted at www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/494941200.
“Those chosen will lead human spaceflight missions involving the International Space Station, including integrating American-made commercial crew spacecraft into the fleet of vehicles servicing the orbiting laboratory, and Orion missions to the Moon and beyond,” the agency states.
Happy travels!
