Nasa’s TESS satellite has discovered 5,000 possible alien worlds in four years

The catalogue has increased by 1,600 objects in the last year alone

(Nasa)

Nasa’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered 5,000 objects of interest.

The catalogue has been growing since 2018, and has increased by 1,600 objects since last year alone. The satellite was launched on a SpaceX rocket from Florida.

TESS was designed to build on the work of its predecessor, the Kepler space telescope, which discovered the bulk of some 3,700 exoplanets documented by astronomers.

These objects could possibly harbour some kind of alien life. Nasa refers to then as TOIs, or Tess Objects of Interest.

“This time last year, TESS had found just over 2,400 TOIs. Today, TESS has reached more than twice that number — a huge testament to the mission and all the teams scouring the data for new planets. I’m excited to see thousands more in the years to come!” MIT postdoctoral scholar Michelle Kunimoto said in a statement.

As yet, 176 TOIs have been confirmed as planets since TESS started searching in April 2018.

TESS is currently observing the Northern Hemisphere and ecliptic plane, including regions of the sky previously observed by the Kepler and K2 missions.

Future developments of TESS missions in 2025 will hopefully reveal more candidates for planets.

“With data from the first year of the extended mission, we have found dozens of additional candidates to TOIs found during the prime mission. I am excited to see how many multi-planet systems we can find during the rest of the extended mission and in upcoming years with TESS,” TOI manager Katharine Hesse said.