NASA Digest, Vol 58, Issue 11

	March 19, 2018  MEDIA ADVISORY M18-045 NASA to Discuss Upcoming Launch of Next Planet Hunter The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a NASA Explorer mission launching in 2018 to study exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. TESS will discover thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest stars in the sky. Credits: NASA GSFC Join NASA at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, March 28, as astrophysics experts discuss the upcoming launch of NASA's next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Reporters can attend the event in person at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington or participate by phone. The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's website. Scheduled to launch April 16, TESS is expected to find thousands of planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, orbiting the nearest and brightest stars in our cosmic neighborhood. Powerful telescopes like NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope can then further study these exoplanets to search for important characteristics, like their atmospheric composition and whether they could support life. Credits: NASA GSFC The news briefing participants will be:   Paul Hertz, director, Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington George Ricker, TESS principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts Sara Seager, TESS deputy director of science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts Jeff Volosin, TESS project manager, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland A question-and-answer session will take place during the event with reporters on-site and by phone. Members of the public can also ask questions during the briefing by participating in person, or using #AskNASA. To participate by phone, reporters must contact Felicia Chou at 202-358-0257 or felicia.chou@nasa.gov, or Claire Saravia at 301-286-1940 or claire.g.desaravia@nasa.gov, no later than the morning of March 28. For more information on TESS, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/tess
	Press Contacts Felicia Chou Headquarters, Washington 202 -358-0257 felicia.chou@nasa.gov Claire Saravia Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-1940 claire.g.desaravia@nasa.gov