CHEOPS
Sign in to saveAlso known as Characterising Exoplanets Satellite
CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite) is a European space telescope. Its objective is to determine the size of known extrasolar planets, which will allow the estimation of their mass, density, composition and their formation. Launched on 18 December 2019, it is the first Small-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision science programme. The small satellite features an optical Ritchey–Chrétien telescope with an aperture of 30 cm, mounted on a standard small satellite platform. It was placed into a Sun-synchronous orbit of about 700 km altitude.
Key facts
- Spaceflight.name
- Characterising Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS)
- Spaceflight.image
- CHEOPS spacecraft.png
- Spaceflight.image_caption
- An artist's impression of the CHEOPS space observatory
- Spaceflight.image_alt
- CHEOPS spacecraft
- Spaceflight.image_size
- 300px
- Spaceflight.mission_type
- Exoplanetology, astrophysics
- Spaceflight.operator
- Swiss Space Office / ESA
- Spaceflight.COSPAR_ID
- 2019-092B
- Spaceflight.SATCAT
- 44874
- Spaceflight.mission_duration
- 3.5 years (nominal)+ 3 years (extended)Elapsed: (in progress)
- Spaceflight.spacecraft_type
- Space observatory
- Spaceflight.spacecraft_bus
- SEOSAT
- Spaceflight.manufacturer
- Airbus Defence and Space (Spain)
- Spaceflight.launch_mass
- 273 kg
- Spaceflight.payload_mass
- 58 kg
- Spaceflight.power
- 200 watts
- Spaceflight.launch_date
- 18 December 2019, 08:54:20 UTC
- Spaceflight.launch_rocket
- Soyuz-ST-A/Fregat-M (Soyuz VS23)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Mass
- 58
- Official website
- cheops.unibe.ch/de
- Image
- CHEOPS spacecraft.jpg
Show 6 more facts
- Commons category
- CHEOPS (spacecraft)
- UTC date of spacecraft launch
- 2019-12-18
- nominal power output
- 64
- periapsis
- 712
- apoapsis
- 715
- orbital inclination
- 92.8
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Article
12 sectionsContents
- Spacecraft
- Instruments
- Objectives
- Priorities
- Timeline
- Prior to launch
- Launch
- First light
- Results
- See also
- References
- External links
CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite) is a European space telescope. Its objective is to determine the size of known extrasolar planets, which will allow the estimation of their mass, density, composition and their formation. Launched on 18 December 2019, it is the first Small-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision science programme. The small satellite features an optical Ritchey–Chrétien telescope with an aperture of 30 cm, mounted on a standard small satellite platform. It was placed into a Sun-synchronous orbit of about 700 km altitude.
For the planned mission duration of 3.5 years, CHEOPS is to measure the size of known transiting exoplanets orbiting bright and nearby stars, as well as search for predicted transits of exoplanets previously discovered via radial velocity. Scientists behind the project expect these well-characterised transiting exoplanets to be prime targets for observatories such as James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) or the extremely large telescopes. In 2023, the mission was extended to 2026. During the extended mission CHEOPS is expected to also search for exomoons. CHEOPS also sees trails from other satellites during its observations, since it is in low Earth orbit.