Scientific Objectives
The survey will focus on G- and K- type stars with apparent magnitudes brighter than 12. Approximately 2 million of these stars would be studied, including the 1,000 closest red dwarfs. TESS is predicted to discover 1,000 - 10,000 transiting exoplanet candidates which are Earth-sized or larger, with orbital periods of up to two months. These candidates could be later investigated by the HARPS spectrometer and the future James Webb Space Telescope. The development team at MIT is so optimistic about the mission that they have suggested that the first manned interstellar space missions may be to planets discovered by TESS.
Read more about this topic: Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
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