ESA - Cheops Mission logo.
Jan. 9, 2020
The Swiss satellite-observatory carried out a first important mission on Wednesday.
Satellite successfully placed.
Soyuz ST-A launches CSG-1, CHEOPS, OPS-SAT, EyeSat & ANGELS
The Swiss space telescope CHEOPS has been in orbit since December 18. The satellite observatory passed its first major tests on Wednesday morning. It will still take a few weeks before the first real photos are taken.
Shortly after the launch in December, those involved in the CHEOPS mission tested communication with the satellite that carries the space telescope. After a break during the holidays, commissioning started this week: activate and test all components before CHEOPS can start its scientific mission.
First Swiss mission
CHEOPS (short for CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) is the first mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) under the direction of Switzerland. Its objectives are to study exoplanets by observing the stars around which they orbit.
CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS)
On Wednesday morning, CHEOPS passed two important tests: for the first time, the control center near Madrid attempted to start the telescope's computer. The team also checked the functionality of the satellite's heating elements, which can be used to control the temperature of the telescope. The instrument should not become too cold.
"It couldn't be better"
Both tests went extremely well. "It couldn't be better," CHEOPS mission director Willy Benz of the University of Bern enthusiastically told the Keystone-ATS news agency.
CHEOPS orbits the earth at an altitude of about 700 kilometers in about an hour and a half - always exactly along the day-night border. At dawn and dusk, the scientific satellite flies over the control center near Madrid and is then in range for one to two tests at most.
CHEOPS description
The team wants to take a first photo Thursday morning, but completely black. The telescope cover remains closed for some time. "There is still a lot to do before opening the lid," said Willy Benz. The first image is to show if the CCD charge transfer device suitable for CHEOPS works.
Hundreds of black images will follow next week to calibrate the instrument. The objective is to subsequently remove the interference signals induced by the hardware via an image correction. The cover can only be opened once and cannot be closed.
Moment of Truth
The moment of truth should come on January 27, when the lid will be opened. In the evening, when CHEOPS passes again over the control center near Madrid, the first real image will be taken and transmitted to the ground control center.
Data processing will take place at the "Science Operations Center" at the University of Geneva, that is to say the center where observation planning, daily management of scientific operations and data analysis will be carried out.
Cheops observing in space
Today, it is estimated that there are at least as many planets as stars in the galaxy, or about 100 billion. CHEOPS will observe about 500 of them and thus compose "a family photo of the exoplanets".
CHEOPS was developed and assembled by the University of Bern in close collaboration with the University of Geneva. More than 4,000 exoplanets - orbiting a star other than the Sun - have been detected since the discovery of the first, 51 Pegasi b, 24 years ago by the 2019 Nobel Prize winners Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the University of Geneva.
Related article & link:
Liftoff for Cheops, ESA’s exoplanet mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/12/liftoff-for-cheops-esas-exoplanet.html
Cheops: http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cheops
Images, Videos, Text, Credits: ATS/ESA/ARIANESPACE/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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