In-situ observations of resident space objects with the CHEOPS space telescope
Journal article, 2024
The CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) is a partnership between the European Space Agency and Switzerland with important contributions by 10 additional ESA member States. It is the first S-class mission in the ESA Science Programme. CHEOPS has been flying on a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit since December 2019, collecting millions of short-exposure images in the visible domain to study exoplanet properties. A small yet increasing fraction of CHEOPS images show linear trails caused by resident space objects crossing the instrument field of view. CHEOPS’ orbit is indeed particularly favourable to serendipitously detect objects in its vicinity as the spacecraft rarely enters the Earth's shadow, sits at an altitude of 700 km, and observes with moderate phase angles relative to the Sun. This observing configuration is quite powerful, and it is complementary to optical observations from the ground. To characterize the population of satellites and orbital debris observed by CHEOPS, all and every science images acquired over the past 3 years have been scanned with a Hough transform algorithm to identify the characteristic linear features that these objects cause on the images. Thousands of trails have been detected. This statistically significant sample shows interesting trends and features such as an increased occurrence rate over the past years as well as the fingerprint of the Starlink constellation. The cross-matching of individual trails with catalogued objects is underway as we aim to measure their distance at the time of observation and deduce the apparent magnitude of the detected objects. As space agencies and private companies are developing new space-based surveillance and tracking activities to catalogue and characterize the distribution of small debris, the CHEOPS experience is timely and relevant. With the first CHEOPS mission extension currently running until the end of 2026, and a possible second extension until the end of 2029, the longer time coverage will make our dataset even more valuable to the community, especially for characterizing objects with recurrent crossings.
Astronomy
Debris
Satellite
Telescope
Author
N. Billot
University of Geneva
Stephan Hellmich
EPFL Laboratory of Astrophysics (LASTRO)
W. Benz
University of Bern
A. Fortier
University of Bern
D. Ehrenreich
University of Geneva
C. Broeg
University of Bern
A. Heitzmann
University of Geneva
A. Bekkelien
University of Geneva
A. Brandeker
Stockholm University
Y. Alibert
University of Bern
R. Alonso
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
T. Bárczy
Admatis
D. Barrado Navascues
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
S.C.C. Barros
University of Porto
W. Baumjohann
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
F. Biondi
Max Planck Society
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
L. Borsato
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
A. Collier Cameron
University of St Andrews
C. Corral Van Damme
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
A. Correia
Centre for Physics of the University of Coimbra
Szilard Csizmadia
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
P. E. Cubillos
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Melvyn B. Davies
Lund University
M. Deleuil
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
A. Deline
University of Geneva
O. Demangeon
University of Porto
B.O. Demory
University of Bern
A. Derekas
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Billy Edwards
Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)
J. A. Egger
University of Bern
Anders Erikson
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
L. Fossati
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Malcolm Fridlund
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Leiden University
D. Gandolfi
University of Turin
K. Gazeas
University Campus
Michaël Gillon
University of Liège
M. Gudel
University of Vienna
Maximilian N. Günther
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
Ch. Helling
Technische Universität Graz
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
K. Isaak
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
L. L. Kiss
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Judith Korth
Lund University
K. W.F. Lam
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
J. Laskar
Paris Observatory
A. L. des Etangs
Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris
M. Lendl
University of Geneva
D. Magrin
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
P. Maxted
Keele University
M. Mecina
Bruno Merín
European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
C. Mordasini
University of Bern
Valerio Nascimbeni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
G. Olofsson
Stockholm University
R. Ottensamer
University of Vienna
I. Pagano
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Enric Palle
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
G. Peter
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
D. Piazza
University of Bern
Giampaolo P. Piotto
University of Padua
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Don L. Pollacco
The University of Warwick
D. Queloz
University of Cambridge
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
Roberto Ragazzoni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
University of Padua
N. Rando
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
H. Rauer
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Freie Universität Berlin
I. Ribas
Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) - CSIC
M. Rieder
University of Bern
N. C. Santos
University of Porto
Gaetano Scandariato
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
D. Segransan
University of Geneva
A.E. Simon
University of Bern
A. M.S. Smith
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
S.G. Sousa
University of Porto
M. Stalport
University of Liège
S. Sulis
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
G.M. Szabó
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
HUN-REN-ELTE Exoplanet Research Group
S. Udry
University of Geneva
B. Ulmer
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
S. Ulmer-Moll
University of Geneva
V. Van Grootel
University of Liège
J. Venturini
University of Geneva
E. Villaver
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
N. A. Walton
University of Cambridge
T.G. Wilson
The University of Warwick
Journal of Space Safety Engineering
24688975 (ISSN) 24688967 (eISSN)
Vol. In PressExoplanets from space – CHEOPS and PLATO, ESA’s next two projects
Swedish National Space Board (174/18), 2017-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Exoplanets from space -CHEOPS and PLATO ESA's next two projects (Phase 2)
Swedish National Space Board (177/19), 2020-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Swedish National Space Board (65/19), 2020-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Subject Categories
Aerospace Engineering
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1016/j.jsse.2024.08.005