The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ( TESS ) is a NASA-sponsored Explorer mission that will perform a wide-field survey for planets that transit bright host stars .
Here , we predict the properties of the transiting planets that TESS will detect along with the eclipsing binary stars that produce false-positive photometric signals .
The predictions are based on Monte Carlo simulations of the nearby population of stars , occurrence rates of planets derived from Kepler , and models for the photometric performance and sky coverage of the TESS cameras .
We expect that TESS will find approximately 1700 transiting planets from 2 \times 10 ^ { 5 } pre-selected target stars .
This includes 556 planets smaller than twice the size of Earth , of which 419 are hosted by M dwarf stars and 137 are hosted by FGK dwarfs .
Approximately 130 of the R < 2 R _ { \oplus } planets will have host stars brighter than K _ { s } = 9 .
Approximately 48 of the planets with R < 2 R _ { \oplus } lie within or near the habitable zone ( 0.2 < S / S _ { \oplus } < 2 ) ; between 2 and 7 such planets have host stars brighter than K _ { s } = 9 .
We also expect approximately 1100 detections of planets with radii 2-4 R _ { \oplus } , and 67 planets larger than 4 R _ { \oplus } .
Additional planets larger than 2 R _ { \oplus } can be detected around stars that are not among the pre-selected target stars , because TESS will also deliver full-frame images at a 30 min cadence .
The planet detections are accompanied by over one thousand astrophysical false positives .
We discuss how TESS data and ground-based observations can be used to distinguish the false positives from genuine planets .
We also discuss the prospects for follow-up observations to measure the masses and atmospheres of the TESS planets .