Wow, NASA's Exoplanet Reconnaissance Satellite Is Having Problems

TESS entering safe mode (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA In early April, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) entered an unexpected safe mode. NASA's satellite was repaired, but the system has returned to safe mode.

This satellite stopped functioning on Tuesday, April 23 and made its science operations halt for a while. Currently, a team of technicians from NASA is trying to return the system to normal mode so that planetary observations can be made again.

This repair seems to take quite a long time if you reflect on the first safe mode event. The technicians took about nine days to reactivate the function of the observational satellite.

As long as improvement efforts are made, NASA is trying to revive all TESS instruments and save its observation data. The country's agency will, "download previously collected science data and stored in the mission recorder."

Until now, NASA is still investigating the cause of the first safe mode event. With events entering its second safe mode, the task of the development team will increase as they have to investigate more.

NASA said that the main cause was being investigated, both in the first and second events. They will find out if the two TESS events entering the safe mode are related.

TESS is a satellite launched in 2018 to monitor the solar system environment for two years. The mission from this satellite is actually over, but operations are still ongoing as TESS is assigned to other missions.

Since 2020, TESS's focus has changed. The aircraft is busy looking for exoplanets and monitoring all objects in outer space that have experienced brightness changes, both asteroids, stars, and galaxies. With this operation, this satellite managed to find 66 exoplanets.