SpaceX set for second TESS launch attempt Wednesday evening

CAPE CANAVERAL — SpaceX will reboot its launch effort for NASA’s TESS satellite on Wednesday, with a 30-second window opening at 6:51 p.m.

It was scrubbed hours before the Monday window when the space company decided to conduct more analysis of the guidance, navigation and control systems.

This mission’s navigation includes getting the satellite close to the Moon, so it can slingshot around and enter an elliptical orbit.

Forecast was almost perfect with 90% favorable weather outlook, only a slight concern that cumulus clouds might get really big.

“Winds will become southeasterly and a few low-topped cumulus clouds may form after noon over the Spaceport,” said the latest forecast from the Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron. “The primary weather concern is a slight chance of cumulus reaching 15,000 feet. Maximum upper-level winds will be from the northwest at 50 knots near 37,000 feet.”

NASA said Monday that the “TESS spacecraft is in excellent health, and remains ready for launch.”

TESS will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

TESS, which stands for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is a telescope/camera that will hunt for undiscovered worlds around nearby stars, providing targets where future studies will assess their capacity to harbor life, NASA says.

With the help of a gravitational assist from the Moon, the spacecraft will settle into a 13.7-day orbit around Earth.

The spacecraft will be looking for a phenomenon known as a transit, where a planet passes in front of its star, causing a periodic and regular dip in the star’s brightness. NASA’s Kepler spacecraft used the same method.

TESS is designed to concentrate on stars less than 300 light-years away.

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