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[TESS: Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Integration and Testing]
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Spacecraft components are often built in different places. Integration brings all these pieces together.
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Engineers move TESS's spacecraft structure into a cleanroom at Orbital ATK in Virginia.
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TESS's four cameras will look for small, regular dips in the brightness of stars.
Called transits, these dips could be caused by orbiting planets.
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Engineers mount TESS's cameras to their support structure.
The cameras were designed and developed by MIT.
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The cameras are insulated to protect them from extreme temperatures in space:
248 degrees Farenheit in sunlight and -148 in shade.
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The cameras are then joined to the spacecraft's main body.
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Over the next two years, the cameras will image 85 percent of the sky,
searching for other worlds around nearby stars.
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Engineers deploy the solar arrays. The arrays must full extend
to produce the power the spacecraft needs.
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This and many other tests ensure TESS will survive the stresses of launch and its time in space.
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TESS is ready for transport to NASA's Kennedy Space Station.
The mission is slated for launch in 2018.
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[Beeping]