Andromeda
Log inJoin

NASA spacecraft

TESS

Also transiting exoplanet survey satellite

Open in OuranosCompare its size

Active, on its extended mission (science.nasa.gov, page updated 2026-08-13). Hunts planets round nearby stars from an orbit of about 13.7 days, in step with the Moon: nominally 108,400 × 376,300 km, the mission design as Horizons' summary gives it.

At Earth.

Measured

Agency
NASA
Launched
2018-04-18
From the Earth today
243,640 km
Height above the Earth
about 237,262 km
Fully deployed, long side
3.9 m

How far, from the Earth

244,000 km. To cross it:

  • Light0.813 seconds
  • Voyager 1's speed4 hours 1 minute
  • Driving at 100 km/h3.33 months

Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.

Facts

  • JPL Horizons trajectory round Earth: worst miss 308 km on the dates it was checked against (median 92 km); between those dates as much as about 924 km. Dates after the data was fetched are Horizons' predictions, which it revises as a mission flies.

Where this comes from

  • NASA/MIT
  • Spacecraft trajectories: JPL Horizons, NASA/JPL-Caltech; each mission's agency credited on its card.
  • 3D model: TESS model: NASA/Matthew J. Garcia, NASA 3D Resources

Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.