Chapter 1: Overview of TESS's Achievements

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has successfully finished its primary mission after two years of diligently searching the sky for exoplanets. Concluding its mission last month, TESS confirmed 66 exoplanets and identified around 2,100 potential candidates. This extensive dataset offers a wealth of information for scientists to analyze, and the mission is far from over as TESS embarks on an extended mission through September 2022.

TESS was launched into orbit in April 2018 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Following an initial systems check that included capturing an image of a comet, TESS began its crucial task of scanning the sky for signs of exoplanets within our galactic vicinity. Serving as a successor to the Kepler mission, which faced hardware issues and was retired shortly after TESS's launch, TESS utilizes the transit method to identify exoplanets. This technique involves observing recurring dips in a star's brightness, which may suggest a planet passing between the star and Earth.

Section 1.1: Technical Specifications of TESS

Equipped with four wide-angle telescopes, TESS is capable of monitoring vast sections of the sky during its orbit. NASA refers to this as an "all-sky transiting exoplanet survey," as TESS was engineered to collect unobstructed, panoramic data from both the northern and southern hemispheres. Unlike Kepler, which examined stars across a much greater distance but with a limited field of view, TESS focuses on stars within 300 light-years, providing insights into nearby exoplanets that are more accessible for study.

Chapter 2: TESS's Impact and Future Prospects

The first video titled "TESS Completes its Primary Mission" discusses the significant findings of the TESS mission, showcasing its success in detecting numerous exoplanets, including Earth-like candidates.

Patricia Boyd, the project scientist for TESS at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, describes the mission as a “roaring success.” Among its discoveries are an Earth-like exoplanet, three planets in the HD 21749c GJ 357 system (one of which may be habitable), and even an observation of a star being consumed by a black hole. Scientists will take years to thoroughly analyze the data from TESS's primary mission to determine the validity of the 2,100 candidate planets.

The second video titled "What Did NASA Discover With TESS' First Complete Mission" elaborates on the discoveries made by TESS, highlighting its contributions to our understanding of exoplanets.

Moving forward, NASA anticipates even more valuable data from TESS. Enhanced observation and processing technologies have been implemented, enabling the satellite to capture images of the sky every 10 minutes—three times faster than during its primary mission. With these advancements, we can expect a plethora of new discoveries from TESS in the coming years.