Qarman CubeSat: falling into a fireball

ESA - European Space Agency logo / Qarman CubeSat logo.

Feb. 10, 2020

This Wednesday 12 February,  ESA’s latest mission will enter the vacuum of space, not aboard a rocket but by being released from the International Space Station. The first task of the shoebox-sized Qarman CubeSat is simply to fall. While typical space missions resist orbital decay, Qarman will drift down month by month until it reenters the atmosphere, at which point it will gather a wealth of data on the fiery physics of reentry.

Technically ESA’s ‘QubeSat for Aerothermodynamic Research and Measurements on Ablation’, Qarman, achieved orbit on 5 December, flying as cargo on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to the ISS. The nanosatellite is a CubeSat made up of standardised 10-cm boxes: at just 30 cm in length it easily fitted aboard, stowed within the commercial Nanoracks CubeSat Deployment System.

CubeSat deployment from ISS

But on Wednesday comes the ambitious mini-mission’s next giant leap. Astronaut Andrew ‘Drew’ Morgan will take the Nanoracks deployer and place it thorough the airlock of Japan’s Kibo module. From here the module’s robotic arm – the Japanese Experimental Module Remote Manipulator System – will position the deployer for safe orientation away from the station, then Qarman will be shot into space.

“From there we think it will take about six months to reenter the atmosphere – to find out how accurately we can forecast Qarman’s orbital decay is part of the reason we’re flying the mission, relevant to the study of space debris,” explains Prof. Olivier Chazot, heading the Aeronautic/Aerospace Department of the Von Karman Institute in Belgium. This internationally sponsored centre of excellence for fluid dynamics developed the Qarman mission in partnership with ESA’s technical specialists in the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality at ESTEC in the Netherlands.

Qarman reentry CubeSat

Form follows function: Qarman’s distinctive shuttlecock-like profile, with its quartet of deployable solar-array covered panels, is designed to increase atmospheric drag on the tiny CubeSat, hastening its fall back to Earth.

“Then, once the reentry process begins, at about 90 km altitude, these panels will keep the satellite’s orientation stable, minimising any tumbling,” adds Prof. Chazot.

“For maximum stability we need to have its centre of gravity towards the front and centre of pressure at the back, and deploying the panels moves the centre of pressure rearward.

Qarman with side panels deployed

“This will help focus heating on Qarman’s square-shaped nose, which is made from cork – not the sort you find in champagne bottles but a carefully tailored aerospace variety, supplied by Portuguese company Amorim and used in numerous spacecraft thermal protection systems.”

When cork heats up the material first swells, then chars then finally flakes away, carrying away unwanted heat with it. It is this ‘ablation’ process that the Qarman team want to study.

Qarman prepared for launch to ISS

“Ablation is a tried and tested thermal protection method, used for instance by ESA’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle, IXV,” says Prof. Chazot. “We will check our classical understanding of the process against observed reality using thermocouples, pressure sensors and also a spectrometer embedded under the cork in Qarman’s nose. Looking out with a small camera we’ll be able to measure the spectra of the flow radiation in the shock layer as well as species emitted by the burning cork.”

The stability provided by Qarman’s side panels and front centre of gravity should also allow the CubeSat to transmit its findings to commercial Iridium telecommunication satellites – planning to transmit around 20 minutes of reentry data in three to five minutes.

Plasma wind tunnel testing

An inner ‘survival kit’ containing instruments and electronics and lined with protective ceramic carbon matrix with aerogel protection will likely survive reentry but will not be recovered, most likely splashing down in the sea.

“We’ve played a role in many ESA programmes, such as the IXV, the forthcoming Space Rider reusable spacecraft, as well as the Vega-C and Ariane 6 launchers,” notes Prof. Chazot, “but up until now we’ve focused on the modelling and experimental simulation side.

“These kind of tests cannot tell you everything we want to know however – to really validate our codes and understand the reality of the physics involved, we need to actually fly in space.

Qarman's cork nose ablating

“The idea came to design our own CubeSat when we were running the European Commission-led QB50 programme, which was an international CubeSat network to perform lower atmosphere and reentry research. We designed and built the entire mission, buying in parts and expertise as needed, with valuable technical and organisational support coming from ESA. As a follow-up we are interested in designing a recoverable ‘black box’ reentry mission.”

ESA is supporting Qarman through the ‘Fly’ element of its long-running General Support Technology Programme, providing early flight opportunities to promising technologies.

Qarman CubeSat - infographic

Watch live

You can follow Qarman’s deployment from the ISS live via the Von Karman Institute’s YouTube channel, from around 10:45 to 11:30 CET.: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk8S7NEQJRLSFc5PPnd19bg

Related links:

Von Karman Institute: https://www.vki.ac.be/

Qarman Homepage: https://www.qarman.eu/

General Support Technology Programme: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Shaping_the_Future

Nanoracks CubeSat Deployment System: https://nanoracks.com/products/iss-cubesat-deployment/

QB50 programme: https://www.qb50.eu/

Space Rider: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Space_Rider

Vega-C: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Launch_vehicles/Vega-C

Ariane 6: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Launch_vehicles/Ariane_6

ESA Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV): http://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/IXV

ESTEC: https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESTEC

Amorim: https://www.amorim.com/en/

Space Engineering & Technology: http://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology

Images, Animation, Text, Credits: ESA/F. Zonno/Nanoracks/Dr. Gilles Bailet, University of Glasgow/VKI.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Iran fails to put satellite into orbit

Iranian Space Agency logo.

Feb. 10, 2020

The launch of the Iranian satellite Zafar failed on Sunday due to insufficient speed. According to the country's authorities, the purpose of this space program was to collect images, in particular to prevent earthquakes.

Image above: An Iranian Simorgh (Phoenix) orbital carrier rocket is launched from the Imam Khomenei Spaceport in Semnan Province, Iran, on July 27, 2017. Image Credits: Tasnim News Agency via Wikimedia Commons.

Iran failed on Sunday to put a new scientific observation satellite into orbit as part of a space program that the country says is "peaceful", but which the United States has described as "provocation".

The launch of the Zafar satellite "failed," Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said on Twitter. Launched at 7:15 p.m. (4:45 p.m. in Switzerland), the satellite had reached "90% of its planned trajectory", at a height of 540 kilometers, said spokesman for the space department of the Ministry of Defense, Ahmad Hosseini, quoted by a state television channel.

Zafar satellite. Image Credit: The Iran Project

"The (launcher) Simorgh successfully propelled the Zafar satellite into space but the launcher did not reach the speed necessary to put the satellite into the desired orbit," he said, without indicating where to go. now found the satellite.

"Most of the objectives achieved"

"We have achieved most of the objectives we had and acquired data, and in the near future, by analyzing this data, we will proceed to the next steps", assured Ahmad Hosseini.

"We are INVULNERABLE! We have other great Iranian satellites to come! ”Said the Minister of Telecommunications.

Increased tensions

This launch comes against a backdrop of increased tensions between Tehran and Washington since the United States' unilateral withdrawal in May 2018 from an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program followed by the reinstatement of draconian American sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Washington has also warned in the past against the Iranian space program, calling Tehran's firing of a rocket launching a satellite in January 2019 a violation of a UN resolution to limit the development of its ballistic capabilities.

"Iran has failed to launch a satellite today. They also fail to smuggle weapons into Syria and Lebanon because we operate there all the time, including these days, ”said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

New stage

On February 1, the head of the National Space Agency Mortéza Bérari had told AFP that the manufacturing of Zafar had "started three years ago with the participation of 80 Iranian scientists".

The satellite weighed 113 kilograms and was capable of circling the Earth 15 times a day, he added, adding that Zafar was designed to be operational "over 18 months".

His "main mission" should be to "collect images", he said, stressing Iran's needs in this area, in particular to study and prevent earthquakes, "prevent natural disasters" and develop its agriculture.

"This is a new step for our country," he said, recalling that Iran had already managed to place a satellite in orbit 250 km from Earth.

"Peaceful use of space"

While the Islamic Republic's satellite program worries Westerners, Mortéza Bérari said that Iran was campaigning for "the peaceful use of space". "All of our space activities are transparent."

On Sunday, the Revolutionary Guards, the regime's ideological army, unveiled a short-range ballistic missile that they believed could be powered by a "new generation" launcher designed to place satellites in orbit.

"The achievements (...) unveiled today are our key to entering space," said General Hossein Salami, chief of the Guardians, revealing a launcher equipped with a "mobile nozzle" allowing "maneuverability beyond the atmosphere. "

Provocation for Washington

In January 2019, Tehran announced the failure to put into orbit its Payam satellite ("Message"), which, according to the authorities, is intended to collect environmental data.

The launch had already been labeled by Washington as "provocation" and a violation of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231.

The resolution calls on Iran "not to carry out any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear charges, including fire using ballistic missile technology".

Claiming to have no plans to acquire atomic weapons, Tehran assures that its ballistic and space programs are lawful and do not violate the resolution.

Explosion

In September, Iran confirmed that an explosion had occurred on one of its satellite launch pads due to a technical problem, and castigated US President Donald Trump for "happily" tweeting about the incident.

The launch of Zafar comes two days before the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, and about two weeks before crucial legislative elections.

It also comes after a spike in tension between Tehran and Washington linked to the January 3 death of powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in an American drone strike in Baghdad.

Iran responded on January 8 with ballistic missile strikes at two bases housing American soldiers in Iraq. Dozens of them were victims of concussions.

Iran's internet services have suffered cyberattacks in the past two days, according to an official with the Ministry of Telecommunications, who did not specify the origin.

Iranian Space Agency: http://www.iafastro.org/societes/iranian-space-agency/

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: ATS/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Liftoff for Solar Orbiter, ESA’s mission to face the Sun up close

ULA - Atlas V - Solar Orbiter Mission poster / ESA & NASA - Solar Orbiter patch.

Fev. 10, 2020

Solar Orbiter liftoff

ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission lifted off on an Atlas V 411 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 05:03 CET on 10 February on its mission to study the Sun from new perspectives.

Signals from the spacecraft were received at New Norcia ground station at 06:00 CET, following separation from the launcher upper stage in low Earth orbit.

Atlas V launches Solar Orbiter

Facing the Sun

Solar Orbiter, an ESA-led mission with strong NASA participation, will provide the first views of the Sun’s uncharted polar regions, giving unprecedented insight into how our parent star works.

It will also investigate how intense radiation and energetic particles being blasted out from the Sun and carried by the solar wind through the Solar System impact our home planet, to better understand and predict periods of stormy ‘space weather’. Solar storms have the potential to knock out power grids, disrupt air traffic and telecommunications, and endanger space-walking astronauts, for example.

Solar Orbiter

“As humans, we have always been familiar with the importance of the Sun to life on Earth, observing it and investigating how it works in detail, but we have also long known it has the potential to disrupt everyday life should we be in the firing line of a powerful solar storm,” says Günther Hasinger, ESA Director of Science.

“By the end of our Solar Orbiter mission, we will know more about the hidden force responsible for the Sun’s changing behaviour and its influence on our home planet than ever before.”

“Solar Orbiter is going to do amazing things. Combined with the other recently launched NASA missions to study the Sun, we are gaining unprecedented new knowledge about our star,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for Science at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.

“Together with our European partners, we’re entering a new era of heliophysics that will transform the study of the Sun and help make astronauts safer as they travel on Artemis program missions to the Moon.”

Solar Orbiter at IABG

At its closest, Solar Orbiter will face the Sun from within the orbit of Mercury, approximately 42 million kilometres from the solar surface. Cutting-edge heatshield technology will ensure the spacecraft’s scientific instruments are protected as the heatshield will endure temperatures of up to 500ºC – up to 13 times the heat experienced by satellites in Earth orbit.

“After some twenty years since inception, six years of construction, and more than a year of testing, together with our industrial partners we have established new high-temperature technologies and completed the challenge of building a spacecraft that is ready to face the Sun and study it up close,” adds César García Marirrodriga, ESA’s Solar Orbiter project manager.

New perspectives on our parent star

Solar Orbiter will take just under two years to reach its initial operational orbit, making use of gravity-assist flybys of Earth and Venus to enter a highly elliptical orbit around the Sun. The spacecraft will use the gravity of Venus to slingshot itself out of the ecliptic plane of the Solar System, which is home to the planetary orbits, and raise its orbit’s inclination to give us new views of the uncharted polar regions of our parent star.

The poles are out of view from Earth and to other spacecraft but scientists think they are key to understanding the Sun’s activity. Over the course of its planned five-year mission, Solar Orbiter will reach an inclination of 17º above and below the solar equator. The proposed extended mission would see it reach up to 33º inclination.

Solar Orbiter's journey to the Sun

“Operating a spacecraft in close proximity of the Sun is an enormous challenge,” says Sylvain Lodiot, ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft operations manager.

“Our team will have to ensure the continuous and accurate pointing of the heatshield to avoid the potential damage from the Sun’s radiation and thermal flux. At the same time, we will have to ensure a rapid and flexible response to the requests of the scientists to adapt their instruments’ operations according to the most recent observations of the Sun surface.”

Solar Orbiter will use a combination of 10 in situ and remote-sensing instruments to observe the turbulent solar surface, the Sun’s hot outer atmosphere and changes in the solar wind. Remote-sensing payloads will perform high-resolution imaging of the Sun's atmosphere – the corona – as well as the solar disc. In situ instruments will measure the solar wind and the solar magnetic field in the vicinity of the orbiter.

Solar Orbiter instruments

“The combination of remote-sensing instruments, which look at the Sun, and in situ measurements, which feel its power, will allow us to join the dots between what we see at the Sun and what we experience while soaking up the solar wind,” says Daniel Müller, ESA’s Solar Orbiter project scientist.

“This will provide unprecedented insight into how our parent star works in terms of its 11-year solar activity cycle, and how the Sun creates and controls the magnetic bubble – the heliosphere – in which our planet resides.”

We are all Solar Orbiters

Solar Orbiter will be one of two complementary spacecraft studying the Sun at close proximity: it will join NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which is already engaged in its mission.

Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe have each been designed and placed into a unique orbit to accomplish their different, if complementary, goals. Parker Solar Probe ‘touches’ our star at much closer distances than Solar Orbiter, to study how the solar wind originates – but does not have cameras to view the Sun directly. Solar Orbiter flies at an ideal distance to achieve a comprehensive perspective of our star, including both remote images and in situ measurements, and will view the Sun’s polar regions for the first time.

Beyond accomplishing its own science goals, Solar Orbiter will provide contextual information to improve the understanding of Parker Solar Probe’s measurements. By working together in this way, the two spacecraft will collect complementary data sets that will allow more science to be distilled from the two missions than either could manage on its own.

Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe

“Solar Orbiter is the newest addition to the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, joining Parker Solar Probe in an extraordinary adventure to unlock the biggest mysteries of the Sun and its extended atmosphere,” says Holly Gilbert, NASA Solar Orbiter Project Scientist.

“The powerful combination of these two missions and their awe-inspiring technology advancements will thrust our understanding to new heights.”

Solar Orbiter is set to build on the legacy of missions such as the joint ESA/NASA Ulysses and Solar and Heliophysics Observatory (SOHO), to give us the most advanced look yet at our star, and its influence on Earth.

About Solar Orbiter

Solar Orbiter is an ESA-led mission with strong NASA participation. The prime contractor is Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage, UK. Solar Orbiter is the first ‘medium’-class mission implemented in the Cosmic Vision 2015-25 programme, the current planning cycle for ESA’s space science missions.

More information about Solar Orbiter: http://www.esa.int/solarorbiter

In-depth information about Solar Orbiter: http://sci.esa.int/solar-orbiter

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe: https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe

Images, Videos, Text, Credits: ESA/S. Corvaja/ATG medialab/Parker Solar Probe: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/SciNews.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

U.S. Cygnus Cargo Craft Launch Scrubbed

Northrop Grumman - Cygnus NG-13 Mission patch.

February 9, 2020

Northrop Grumman’s launch attempt of the NG CRS-13 cargo mission to the International Space Station was scrubbed due to off-nominal data from ground support equipment.

Image above: The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket with a Cygnus resupply spacecraft Sunday February 2, 2020 after a scrubbed launch at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Image Credit: NASA TV.

The launch team is assessing the situation. NASA’s Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston has informed the space station crew that Northrop Grumman will assess a launch attempt on Monday, however the weather forecast is not favorable. NASA and Northrop Grumman will provide additional information on NASA’s homepage as it becomes available.

Related link:

NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Hubble Captures Grand Spiral

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

Feb. 8, 2020

This eye-catching galaxy is known as NGC 5364.

Unmistakably a spiral, NGC 5364 is also something known as a grand design spiral galaxy — a descriptive name deserved by only one-tenth of spirals. While all spirals have a structure that is broadly similar, there is quite a bit of variation among individual galaxies; some have patchy, oddly shaped arms, some have bars of stars cutting through their core, some are colossal and radiant, and others are dim and diminutive. Grand designs like NGC 5364 are in many ways the archetype of a spiral galaxy. They are characterized by their prominent, well-defined arms, which circle outward from a clear core.

Despite being classified in this way, NGC 5364 is far from perfect. Its arms are asymmetrical compared to other grand design spirals — this is thought to be due to interactions with a nearby neighbor. This neighbor and NGC 5364 are tugging on one another, warping and moving their stars and gas around and causing this misshapen appearance.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.

For more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

http://www.spacetelescope.org/

Text Credits: ESA (European Space Agency)/NASA/Rob Garner/Image, Animation Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Ho.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Space station to forge ultra-fast connections

ESA & DLR - Columbus Module patch.

Fev. 7, 2020

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station plan to install a high-speed radio link to enable almost real-time connections with Earth.

The upgrade to the ESA Columbus laboratory will relay data from experiments on the Station back to Earth almost instantaneously.

The fridge-sized device will fly to the Station aboard Northrop Grumman’s 12th Cygnus supply ship on 9 February.

Columbus over Earth

The device will send signals from the Station, which orbits at an altitude of 400 km above Earth, even further into space, where they will be picked up by European satellites in geostationary orbit 36 000 km above the surface.

These satellites – called the European Data Relay System – remain in constant communication with the same ground station on Earth, unlike the Station, which switches from one to another as it loops around the planet every 90 minutes.

Communications antenna for the Columbus module on the ISS

Dubbed ColKa for ‘Columbus Ka-band antenna’, the upgraded system will provide speeds of up to 50 Mbit/s for downlink and up to 2 Mbit/s for uplink. This will allow astronauts and researchers to benefit from a direct link with Europe at home broadband speeds – delivering a whole family’s worth of video streaming for science and communications.

A spacewalk later this year will be dedicated to upgrading the Columbus module. Two astronauts will take ColKa through the Station’s airlock and bolt it to the outside of Columbus. The antenna connects to a dedicated plug outside Columbus that feeds the data from the facilities and computers inside.

Northrop Grumman Antares CRS-13 Prelaunch

Columbus was conceived and designed over 20 years ago, when the internet was in its infancy. The laboratory was launched to the Station in 2008 and uses the Station’s network and NASA’s infrastructure for communications with the Columbus Control Centre.

The upgrade will ensure faster communications, independent from the NASA system, to relay data from more and more experiments allowing researchers on Earth to access their experiments at all times for another decade to come.

Colka was designed and built by British and Italian companies as prime contractors, using products from Norway, Belgium, France, Canada and Germany, some of which have been qualified under the ESA’s programme of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES).

Colka will use the infrastructure for the European Data Relay System developed as a Partnership Project between ESA and Airbus, as part of ESA’s efforts to federate industry around large-scale programmes, stimulating technology developments to achieve economic benefits.

The know-how gained from designing, building and running ColKa will be instrumental for ESA’s communications package under the Esprit project that is being designed for the lunar Gateway – an outpost over 1000 times farther from Earth than the International Space Station.

Related links:

Telecommunications & Integrated Applications: http://www.esa.int/Applications/Telecommunications_Integrated_Applications

European Data Relay System: http://www.esa.int/Applications/Telecommunications_Integrated_Applications/EDRS

Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES): https://artes.esa.int/

Images, Text, Credits: ESA/L. Parmitano, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

CHEOPS telescope took its first images

CHEOPS - CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite logo.

February 7, 2020

The Universities of Bern and Geneva welcomed this Friday the quality of the sky pictures taken by the CHEOPS space telescope.

The CHEOPS space telescope took its first images of the sky. A first analysis has shown that the pictures exceed expectations, announced the Universities of Bern and Geneva on Friday.

The decisive moment was the opening of the telescope cover on January 29. With the taking of images, a new stage was crossed.

Image above: Following the successful telescope cover opening last week, Cheops acquired the first image of its initial target star as part of its in-orbit commissioning.

Gathered not far from Madrid in front of a large screen, scientists and engineers awaited the first images of the space telescope. "The first images that were to appear were essential for us to be able to assess whether the optical elements of the telescope had emerged unscathed from the launch of the rocket," explains Willy Benz, professor of astrophysics at the University of Bern and responsible for the CHEOPS mission. , in a press release.

"He works!"

"When the first images of a star field appeared on the screen, everyone immediately understood: the telescope is working," he rejoices. The question now is to what extent.

According to a first analysis, the images exceed expectations. This does not mean that they are perfectly sharp, as the telescope has been purposely defocused. Thus, the collected light is distributed over numerous pixels, in order to attenuate the effect of the movements of the satellite on the images and to increase the photometric precision.

CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite or CHEOPS

"The icing on the cake, the blurred images received are nevertheless even smoother and symmetrical than what we had imagined based on our measurements in the laboratory", continues Willy Benz.

High precision is necessary to allow CHEOPS to observe small changes in the intensity of light received from a star caused by the passage of an exoplanet in front of it. As the changes in brightness are proportional to the surface of the exoplanet, CHEOPS will be able to measure its size. "These initial analyzes are promising and encouraging for the weeks to come," continues the researcher.

100 billion planets

CHEOPS (abbreviation of CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) is a project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland, under the leadership of the University of Bern in collaboration with that of Geneva. CHEOPS will compose "a family photo of exoplanets" while observing about 500.

CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite or CHEOPS

Today, it is estimated that there are at least as many planets as stars in the galaxy, or about 100 billion. More than 4000 exoplanets - orbiting a star other than the Sun - had 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:

CHEOPS telescope cover is open
http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/01/cheops-telescope-cover-is-open.html

The opening of the CHEOPS lid postponed
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-opening-of-cheops-lid-postponed.html

Related links:

CHEOPS Mission Home Page: https://cheops.unibe.ch/

ESA CHEOPS: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cheops

Images, Animation, Text, Credits: ATS/ESA/UNIBE/Twitter/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch