University of Porto "goes" for launch at NASA mission

Researchers from the University of Porto, from the Astrophysics Institute and Space Sciences (IA), are part of the team that launches TESS, a space observatory, into space today, April 16th.

The launch will be performed by a Falcon 9 rocket, from private company SpaceX, and it is scheduled to happen at 11.32 pm (Continental Portugal time), from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA).

The TESS, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or research satellite for exoplanets in transit, will watch glittering stars of 300 light years from our home Galaxy.

Tiago Campante, from IA and Faculty of Sciences of University of Porto, has led part of the work related to instrumentation performance requirements.

Besides searching for exoplanets, this mission will also include "using asteroseismology to determine attributes such as mass, radius or age regarding TESS Objects of Interest, stars surrounded by planets", says Margarida Cunha (from IA and the University of Porto) member of the TASC Executive Committee (TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium).

Tiago Campante is also part of the working group in charge of selecting and prioritisation of TESS's scientific targets. Recently, he was awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Scholarship to study the joint evolution of stars and planets. This project was granted 160 million euros by the European commission and it is aimed at finding and characterising Gaseous Planets around Red Giants Stars, older than the sun, by using data verified by the TESS satellite.

Nuno Santos (IA and Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto), further states that "IA is involved in other actions that will be ancillary to TESS data. For example, instruments such as ESPRESSO, HARPS, NIRPS or SPIRou. This participation will also help prepare the space missions CHEOPS and PLATO, from the European Space Agency (ESA), in which IA participates at the planning and development level".