THE TRANSITING EXOPLANET SURVEY SATELLITE (TESS) WILL DISCOVER THOUSANDS OF EXOPLANTS IN ORBIT AROUND THE BRIGHTEST STARS IN THE SKY. IN A TWO YEAR SURVEY TESS WILL MONITOR MORE THAN 200 000 STARS FOR TEMPORARY DROPS IN BRIGHTNESS CAUSED BY PLANETARY TRANSITS. THIS FIRST EVER SPACE BORNE ALL SKY TRANSIT SURVEY WILL IDENTIFY PLANETS RANGING FROM EARTH SIZED TO GAS GIANTS AROUND A WIDE RANGE OF STELLAR TYPES AND ORBITAL DISTANCES. NO GROUND BASED SURVEY CAN ACHIEVE THIS FEAT. TESS STARS WILL BE 30-100 TIMES BRIGHTER THAN THOSE IN THE RELATIVELY NARROW FIELD OF VIEW OF THE KELPER SATELLITE AND THEREFORE TESS PLANETS WILL BE ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE EASIER TO CHARACTERIZE WITH FOLLOW UP OBSERVATIONS. AT LAST IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO STUDY THE MASSES SIZES DENSITIES ORBITS AND ATMOSPHERES OF A LARGE COHORT OF SMALL PLANETS INCLUDING A SAMPLE OF ROCKY WORLDS IN THE HABITABLE ZONES OF THEIR HOST STARS. TESS WILL PROVIDE PRIME TARGETS FOR OBSERVATION WITH THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE (JWST) AS WELL AS OTHER LARGE GROUND BASED AND SPACE BASED TELESCOPES OF THE FUTURE.