Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Bruce Murray Space Image Library

CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS)

CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS)
CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) The CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) mission will search for transits of exoplanets using ultrahigh precision photometry. This will be the first mission dedicated to examining bright stars already known to host planets. CHEOPS is expected to launch towards the end of 2017 into a circular Sun-synchronous orbit, at an altitude of between 650 and 800 km. ESA / C. Carreau

CHEOPS has one instrument: A photometer with a single CCD, operating between 0.4–1.05 µm, that is at the focal plane of an on-axis 33-cm diameter Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. The blue solar panels cover the back and sides of the instrument and will always face the Sun. The silver-looking tube on the left is the Baffle and Cover Assembly (BCA). The grey disc to the right of the silver tube is the telescope cover. The BCA is connected directly to the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA). The dimensions of the spacecraft are about 1.5m × 1.4m × 1.5m.