NASA is launching their next step in the search for extra-solar planets today: TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. I’m on the ground at Kennedy Space Center, just outside the fence around Pad 40, where TESS is expected to launch this afternoon.
I’ll have more images and an interview with one of the lead scientists on TESS later today. I would do a live report from here, but the wind is overwhelming my microphone.
There’s no way that I’m going to capture better imagery of the event than the massive cameras used by NASA, SpaceX, and the big news crews. And I’m not going to give you the polished explanation of the BBC (whose team is right now at my elbow). So what I’m hoping to do is give you what you don’t usually see: What it’s like to cover a launch
One of the things you probably don’t see is the cameras that show you those great images of launches. Here are multiple teams setting up cameras — many of them in insulated boxes and tethered to the ground to help them handle the heat and exhaust from launch. Because there’s no cell communication at the pad, and the time for launch can change, many of these cameras use sound triggers that are activated by the noise created when the engines first start. There were dozens of these cameras scattered over a couple of fields.
This is the facility where the media works on launch day. NASA has their press relations team here to help set up interviews and answer questions. It’s right across the street from the massive Vehicle Assembly Building.
Inside, there’s seating for about 60 reporters. For the TESS launch, the seats are gradually getting full. But for days like the final shuttle mission, or the first Falcon Heavy launch, these little slots get assigned — and I wouldn’t have a place to type at the moment.
12:10 PM
Back out at the pad, this isn’t a very attractive photo, but I’m including it for a reason.
Even when you’re in the field next to one of these rockets, it’s hard to appreciate their scale. There’s nothing familiar up next to it to give a good sense of just how large these things are. So I snapped this picture of a couple of SpaceX guys driving up to the pad in a golf cart. They’re still a good 100’ or so closer to the camera than is the Falcon 9. A Falcon 9 is about 12’ (3.7 m) across at the base, and 230’ (70 m) tall. So … it’s big.
Another view of Space Launch Facility 40 from the ground. You can see there’s actually quite a bit of material around. Despite the insulation, shields, and tethers on the cameras, most of this stuff won’t catch a huge about of heat and gas when the rocket lifts.
That’s because most of the exhaust will exit through this tunnel. There’s a trench at the end where water will be dumped at the moment of launch. You might have seen pictures of launch pads that include water towers like those used for town water supplies. But in the case of the launch facilities, those towers have a valve that dumps all the water very fast. So it ends up going up in a cloud of steam that both dampens the sound of the launch (people in Cocoa get tired of busted windows) and keeps the launch area relatively cool. There are no camera in the area in the direction that tunnel points, because even with the water, and a big grassy berm, that area can potentially catch some serious fire.
12:30 PM
Right across the street from the press center is this iconic building — the 50 story tall Vehicle Assembly Building, where everything from the Saturn V, to the Space Shuttle, to Falcon Heavy came for final assembly before being moved to the pad.
If all goes well, tonight I’m going to be on top of that building, watching the launch from 526’ above the scrub. It’s one of three location that the press uses for observing launches. The others are on the causeway that connects the buildings of Kennedy Space Center to the spit of land where the launch facilities are located. There are limited viewing spots from the top of the VAB, but TESS is kind of in the middle ground of press attention. More than the average comm satellite launch. MUCH less than something like a manned launch. For the last shuttle launch, there were thousands of vehicles in that field above and too many reporters to even get into the press center.
2:20 PM
In one hour, I’m interviewing NASA scientist Doug Hugins about TESS and all things exoplanet. In the meantime, I’m running to the genuine NASA Subway to grab something since this day looks to be long, and offer few chances to snack. NASA does not feed the press corps. Not even water. So … something to plan for. Also, one tip for anyone visiting KSC — NASA clearly intends navigating this place to represent a challenge. Street signs are few, building signs pretty much nonexistent, and “in the white building” is every building. It’s probably perfectly obvious to regular visitors, but if you’re a first timer on the site, expect to spend a lot of time wondering “will NASA be mad at me for driving in this area?” Finding the Subway involved circling the “multi function facility” (apparently NASA’s term for food court) three times before I saw someone emerge with a sandwich in hand.
If you’re wondering where the public viewing area is, this is your answer. It’s in a big parking lot at the foot of the VAB. Buses of people were just starting to pull up there, as I was heading back to the press office with my sweet onion chicken teriyaki.
4:20 PM
Just finished a fantastic discussion with NASA scientist Doug Hudgins. Dr. Hudgins started off as the program scientist for TESS and is currently the deputy program scientist for TESS as well as program scientist for NASA’s whole exoplanet mission.
DK: What would we have seen of our system if it were fifty or a hundred light years away, and we were looking at it with Kepler?
Hudgins: We might well have seen Mercury. If Kepler had kept running for eight years, the estimate is that we may well have been able to see us. if we looked long enough, we could have seen an earth orbiting a sun like ours. It’s all in the number of transits that you can see. Kepler found plenty of Earth-size planets. The problem was they were all orbiting very close to their stars. The reason we could find those, and not the ones that were out at the distance of the Earth, is because Kepler measured many, many transits. And because you had many, many transits, it could beat the noise down to see these tiny little signals. Since Kepler failed after just over four years, an Earth like ours would make three, maybe four transits — if you’re very, very lucky. And that might not be enough to detect it against the background noise
And … Damn. Just got the preliminary news that the flight may be scrubbed for today. Which means my trip is also scrubbed.
6:50
I had expected to be watching the launch now, but … no such luck. So I’m packed up and heading home. Sorry, folks.
UPDATE
Read more about the successful launch of TESS two days later, and my interview with NASA scientist Doug Hudgins.