Artist's impression of the CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) – Front View
Date: 01 June 2014
Satellite: CHEOPS
Copyright: ESA - C. Carreau
Note: This is a superseded artist's impression. A more recent renderings of the spacecraft is available here.
CHEOPS 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.
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 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope of 33cm diameter.
This image looks down the tube of the Baffle and Cover Assembly (BCA), beyond this is the Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA). The grey disc to the left of the tube is the telescope cover.
The white panels are the radiators. The two rectangular radiators located at the top of the spacecraft are used to keep the focal plane detector (CCD) at a nominal operating temperature of -40°C.
The dimensions of the spacecraft are about 1.5m × 1.4m × 1.5m.
