Four years after launch, NASA scientist Allison Youngblood talks about the discoveries of TESS

In 2018, NASA launched a probe called TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) a highly specialized form of space-based telescope designed to search out exoplanets orbiting distant stars. Now, over four years into its mission, TESS has identified over 2,100 possible planets. Recently, TESS has been used in concert with the Hubble telescope to study a distant “super-Earth,” and paired with Hawaii's Keck Observatory to observe a series of doomed planets that are spiraling into their star.

In 2018, DailyKos was on hand for the launch of TESS and interviewed program scientist Dr. Doug Hudgins about all the possibilities ahead for TESS. Four years into what was originally a two year mission, deputy project scientist Dr. Allison Youngblood was kind enough to share what TESS has revealed, what remains to discover, and how new instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope are providing even more ways to extend the discoveries from TESS.

Among other things, Dr. Youngblood explains why so many of the planets TESS finds are much closer to their stars than Earth, why the other planetary systems we observe seem so different from our own, and how you can personally become involved in helping TESS locate new worlds.