NASA's planet hunter, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which was launched April 18, is still being tested, NASA officials said. TESS will study several thousand stars near the sun, to observe changes in their brightness caused by the passage of planets around them.

TESS will be able to locate planets whose atmospheres can be studied in depth with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which will be ready by 2021. The mission includes the search for methane, oxygen and other gases that can provide valuable information on the formation of those planets.

TESS will replace the Kepler telescope

Space.com noted mission member said the orbit which it will occupy is very stable and subjects TESS to "low radiation." exposure. NASA's previous planetarium telescope, Kepler, which was launched in 2009, is coming to an end. On July 7, Kepler went into hibernation because it was running low on fuel, CNet reported.

According to NASA, there is no valuable information left to obtain, so hibernation will allow the last adjustments to be made and valuable data will be downloaded here on earth. NASA has already prepared TESS to replace Kepler in the search for new worlds.

TESS is more powerful than Kepler

By operating at full power, TESS will be able to see an area 400 times greater than Kepler observed.

TESS will observe these regions for 27 days, directing their attention mainly to the brightest stars.

TESS identifies the planets by seeing their stars. CNet noted that in its orbit around a star, a planet overshadows their star. If TESS directs the focus to the star, it will be able to detect fluctuations of light, and in this way, it can determine the size of the planet and even the time it takes for the planet to "circle" around its star.

The objective of NASA is to look for planets that, when observed, can provide valuable information about possible extraterrestrial life. This is why they cannot wait for Kepler to die before they optimize TESS.

With this new technology, changes in the brightness of these celestial bodies can be observed with better resolution and at a greater distance.

In this way, valuable information and relevant data will be obtained that, as expected, will provide important knowledge about other worlds.

For now, we just have to wait until the TESS telescope is fully optimized and can start operations with all the power it needs to bring new surprises an information to NASA and humanity. Most likely, TESS will do a better job than the Kepler telescope, which unfortunately came to an end.