NASA’s Exoplanet Hunting Satellite Returns to Operation

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JAKARTA – After entering safe mode unexpectedly on April 24, NASA now announces that the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has been operating normally since Friday, May 3.

The exoplanet search satellite has even returned to observing outer space. Not only looking for exoplanets, TESS also observes outer space to reveal various cosmic phenomena such as black holes destroying stars.

While repairing TESS, the operations team managed to find the cause of automatically activating safe mode. As explained on NASA’s official website, the reaction wheel of the satellite failed to generate momentum properly so safe mode was triggered.

This activity should be performed regularly to keep the satellite stable and oriented correctly. This situation was also exacerbated by the propulsion system having not been repressurized since the first safe mode event.

TESS did enter safe mode several times and the first time occurred on April 8. At that time, observations were suddenly disrupted and the satellite entered safe mode. Even though TESS was successfully restarted, the operations team still did not know the cause.

Until now, the operations team is still investigating the cause of the safe mode on April 8. If the cause has been found, they will release the results of the investigation and use it as a damage mitigation tool when TESS has problems again.

TESS is a solar system environmental monitoring satellite launched in 2018. This satellite was supposed to have stopped operating, but the program was extended and the satellite was assigned to another mission.

In 2020, TESS is busy monitoring all objects in space to look for exoplanets. This satellite also pays attention to various space objects that experience changes in brightness, be it asteroids, stars, or galaxies other than the Milky Way.

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outer space