{"id":37780,"date":"2019-12-16T17:44:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T09:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/arianespace-launches-historic-cheops-exoplanet-satellite-mission\/"},"modified":"2019-12-16T17:44:12","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T09:44:12","slug":"arianespace-launches-historic-cheops-exoplanet-satellite-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/arianespace-launches-historic-cheops-exoplanet-satellite-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Arianespace launches historic CHEOPS exoplanet satellite mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite, officially known as CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite \u2013 or CHEOPS, is a joint European Space Agency and Swiss Space Office space telescope designed to study the formation and sizes of known transiting exoplanets.<\/p>\n<p>Liftoff of the mission, which includes the first of the second generation of Cosmo-SkyMed satellites as well as three smaller CubeSats, took place from the Guiana Space Center on Wednesday, following a scrub during the countdown on Tuesday.<br \/>\n<b><\/b><b>CHEOPS<\/b>:<\/p>\n<p>CHEOPS is the European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA\u2019s) first exoplanet study mission.<\/p>\n<p>Part of ESA\u2019s S-class (small class) missions, the telescope is a joint effort between ESA and Switzerland and contains \u201cimportant contributions\u201d from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Built on the Spanish SEOSAT platform, CHEOPS\u2019s prime contractor is Airbus Defence and Space.&nbsp; The telescope was built in Spain.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1204414044074938368&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2019%2F12%2Fesa-arianespace-historic-cheops-exoplanet-launch%2F&amp;sessionId=21d97351407f9dd754335ecf65a4b7e7dbad1094&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1204414044074938368\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783497764334215497=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Have you met #Cheops, our Characterising #Exoplanet Satellite?<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udef0\ufe0f\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f6f0.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\u2600\ufe0f\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/2600.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\u26ab\ufe0f\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/26ab.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udfe4\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f7e4.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udd34\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f534.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udfe0\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f7e0.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udfe1\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f7e1.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udfe2\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f7e2.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udd35\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f535.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udfe3\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f7e3.svg\"><\/p>\n<p>Check out our interactive #media kit to help you get ready for launch on 17 December! <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\ude80\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f680.svg\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udc49\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f449.svg\">https:\/\/t.co\/d3TtkvplxZ pic.twitter.com\/AYyv8ZIRSw<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ESA CHEOPS \u2013 Characterising Exoplanet Satellite (@ESA_CHEOPS) December 10, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The mission will be jointly managed by ESA and a consortium \u2013 with the Mission Operations Centre located in Torrej\u00f3n de Ardoz, Spain, and the Science Operations Centre located at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to CHEOPS\u2019s primary mission, the telescope also serves a bridge to ESA\u2019s next generation of exoplanet satellites (Plato and Ariel), both of which are set to launch in the 2020s.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>CHEOPS Mission Updates<\/li>\n<li>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle <\/li>\n<li>Space Science Forum<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unlike its famous ESA and NASA predecessors \u2013 CoRoT (Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits), the Kepler Space Telescope, and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) \u2013 CHEOPS\u2019s primary purpose is not to find new exoplanets.<\/p>\n<p>Rather, the joint European telescope is a paramount \u201cfollow-up\u201d mission, with a primary purpose of studying known exoplanets to accurately measure their radii, mass, and density.<\/p>\n<p>It will focus primarily on super-Earth to Neptune mass exoplanets in the 1 to 6 Earth radii size range.<\/p>\n<p>By studying known exoplanets, CHEOPS\u2019s controllers already know exactly when to point the telescope at a specific star to observe the transit of an exoplanet between the host star and CHEOPS \u2013 greatly improving efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>CHEOPS will observe stars across the visible sky, and will return to specific stars to observe repeated transits of the same exoplanet in an effort to improve characterization accuracy and precision.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, observations by CHEOPS will help future space telescope missions \u2013 like the NASA\/European\/Canadian James Webb Space Telescope \u2013 identify the most suitable, and potentially habitable, exoplanets to target in the search for water and methane signatures in the exoplanets\u2019 atmospheres.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"CHEOPS - Exploring the mysteries of space\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QHI7SjXsaWU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid0\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>All of this will combine to enable scientists to begin to piece together what exoplanets are made of, how they form, and how they evolve.<\/p>\n<p>To this end, CHEOPS\u2019s mission objectives are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use ultra-high precision photometry to measure accurate sizes of a large sample of Earth- to Neptune-sized planets,<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Measure light curves of hot Jupiters to see how energy is transported in planetary atmospheres,<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Combine CHEOPS size measurements with existing planet masses to constrain their composition and internal structures, and<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify prime targets to search for the fingerprints of key molecules in the planets\u2019 atmospheres using future observatories on Earth and in space.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Unlike its famous predecessors, CHEOPS will not be sent into a sun-trailing orbit (Kepler) or a far-flung Earth orbit (TESS); it will instead operate from a 98.22\u00b0 polar, dusk-dawn Sun-synchronous orbit 700 kilometers above Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n<p>CHEOPS will be the second satellite to separate after launch.<\/p>\n<p>Cosmo-SkyMed will separate first, after which the Fregat upper stage of the Soyuz launcher will perform two burns to raise its orbit and change its orbital inclination to those needed for CHEOPS.<\/p>\n<p>The exoplanet satellite will then separate 2 hours 24 minutes 41 seconds after launch.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64460\" class=\"size-full wp-image-64460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20191213_Cheops_satellite_f840.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"840\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20191213_Cheops_satellite_f840.jpg 840w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20191213_Cheops_satellite_f840-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20191213_Cheops_satellite_f840-525x350.jpg 525w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20191213_Cheops_satellite_f840-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20191213_Cheops_satellite_f840-585x390.jpg 585w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20191213_Cheops_satellite_f840-263x175.jpg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-64460\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CHEOPS inside the Airbus Defence and Space clean room in Madrid, Spain. (Credit: ESA)<\/p>\n<p>CHEOPS\u2019s total launch mass is just 273 kg, and it is quite compact \u2013 with external dimensions of 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 meters arranged on a hexagonal SEOSAT platform from Spain.<\/p>\n<p>While CHEOPS\u2019s overall mass is 273 kg, the vast majority of that is fuel and the satellite bus it is built on; the actual optical telescope and scientific payload package totals just 58 kg.<\/p>\n<p>The primary optical mirror for CHEOPS is 32 cm in diameter with an F\/8 focal length capable of viewing the light spectrum in the 330 to 1100 nm range.<\/p>\n<p>The communications systems and antennas on the telescope will allow for a 1.2 gigabit per day data downlink capability.<\/p>\n<p>After separating from the Fregat upper stage of the Soyuz launcher, CHEOPS will undergo a series of activation and checkout operations before beginning its primary 3.5 year scientific mission.<\/p>\n<p>During service, roughly 80% of the telescope\u2019s time will be given to guaranteed observation time of known transiting exoplanets.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This amount of guaranteed observation time is suitable to achieve the mission\u2019s primary goal of characterizing known exoplanets and improving our understanding of their mass, density, and composition.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the guaranteed observation time will allow scientists to use the telescope to confirm the existence of known exoplanets that transit their parent stars when viewed from Earth that were not detected using the transit method but rather the radial-velocity method.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-2\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-2&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1206650008071745536&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2019%2F12%2Fesa-arianespace-historic-cheops-exoplanet-launch%2F&amp;sessionId=21d97351407f9dd754335ecf65a4b7e7dbad1094&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1206650008071745536\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783497764334215497=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On Tuesday 17 December 08:54 GMT (09:54 CET) our #Cheops satellite will lift off on a mission to characterise #exoplanets <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\ude80\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f680.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udef0\ufe0f\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f6f0.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\u2728\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/2728.svg\"><\/p>\n<p>Are you ready to follow the launch? What do you know about this inspiring mission? Let&#8217;s start with some key facts <br \/><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\u2b07\ufe0f\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/2b07.svg\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\u27a1\ufe0f\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/27a1.svg\">https:\/\/t.co\/IBYn8uPnym pic.twitter.com\/Prqd17qmmn<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ESA Science (@esascience) December 16, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Radial-velocity detection of exoplanets relies on minute and precise observations of how the gravitational force of unseen exoplanets tug and wobble their parent stars.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, while the primary mission objective is not to discover new exoplanets, part of the guaranteed observation time will involve searching known multi-exoplanetary systems for the potential discovery of as-yet-undetected exoplanets.<\/p>\n<p>The remaining 20% of observation time on CHEOPS will be distributed among chosen research proposals submitted to ESA\u2019s Guest Observers\u2019 Program.<\/p>\n<p>Examples of already approved Guest Observations on CHEOPS include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aiming the telescope at the hot Jupiter planets HD 17156 b and kelt-22A b, warm Jupiter K2-139b, and multi-exoplanet systems GJ 9827 and K2-138,&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">observing of the exoplanet DS Tuc Ab (which was found by TESS), and&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">searching for exocomets around 5 Vulpeculae.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Cosmo-SkyMed:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observation-SkyMed, or Cosmo-SkyMed, is a four-satellite Earth observation constellation from the Italian Space Agency.<\/p>\n<p>It is the second generation of the system and will set a new performance standard for space-based radar observation systems in relation to precision, image quality, and the flexibility of user services.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64455\" class=\"size-full wp-image-64455\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/COSMO-SKYMED_1440x760.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"760\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/COSMO-SKYMED_1440x760.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/COSMO-SKYMED_1440x760-350x185.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/COSMO-SKYMED_1440x760-630x333.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/COSMO-SKYMED_1440x760-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/COSMO-SKYMED_1440x760-1170x618.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-64455\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cosmo-SkyMed. (Credit: Telespazio)<\/p>\n<p>A civil and military system, Cosmo-SkyMed is designed to address the requirements of both commercial and government customers, as well as the scientific community.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>To this end, the satellites are equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar to perform observations under any weather or light conditions.<\/p>\n<p>They are manufactured by Thales Alenia Space.<\/p>\n<p>Cosmo-SkyMed will be the first satellite deployed after launch.<\/p>\n<p>It will be released 22 minutes 43 seconds after launch into a 699 km orbit inclined 97.81\u00b0 to the equator.<\/p>\n<p>It carries a liftoff mass of 2,205 kg, is built on the PRISMA satellite platform, carries S-band and X-band radar, and has an operational lifetime of seven years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite, officially known as CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite \u2013 or CHEOPS, is a joint European Space Agency and Swiss Space Office space telescope designed to study the formation and sizes of known transiting exoplanets. Liftoff of the mission, which includes the first of the second generation of Cosmo-SkyMed satellites as well as three [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[498,1302],"class_list":["post-37780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-arianespace","tag-soyuz"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}