In-situ observations of resident space objects with the CHEOPS space telescope
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 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
Författare
N. Billot
Université de Genève
Stephan Hellmich
EPFL Laboratory of Astrophysics (LASTRO)
W. Benz
Universität Bern
A. Fortier
Universität Bern
D. Ehrenreich
Université de Genève
C. Broeg
Universität Bern
A. Heitzmann
Université de Genève
A. Bekkelien
Université de Genève
A. Brandeker
Stockholms universitet
Y. Alibert
Universität Bern
R. Alonso
Universidad de la Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
T. Bárczy
Admatis
D. Barrado Navascues
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
S.C.C. Barros
Universidade do Porto
W. Baumjohann
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
F. Biondi
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
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
Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
P. E. Cubillos
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Melvyn B. Davies
Lunds universitet
M. Deleuil
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
A. Deline
Université de Genève
O. Demangeon
Universidade do Porto
B.O. Demory
Universität Bern
A. Derekas
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Billy Edwards
Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)
J. A. Egger
Universität Bern
Anders Erikson
Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
L. Fossati
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
Malcolm Fridlund
Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik
Universiteit Leiden
D. Gandolfi
Universita degli Studi di Torino
K. Gazeas
University Campus
Michaël Gillon
Universite de Liège
M. Gudel
Universität Wien
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
Magyar Tudomanyos Akademia
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Judith Korth
Lunds universitet
K. W.F. Lam
Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
J. Laskar
Observatoire de Paris
A. L. des Etangs
Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris
M. Lendl
Université de Genève
D. Magrin
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
P. Maxted
Keele University
M. Mecina
Bruno Merín
European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
C. Mordasini
Universität Bern
Valerio Nascimbeni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
G. Olofsson
Stockholms universitet
R. Ottensamer
Universität Wien
I. Pagano
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Enric Palle
Universidad de la Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
G. Peter
Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
D. Piazza
Universität Bern
Giampaolo P. Piotto
Università di Padova
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Don L. Pollacco
The University of Warwick
D. Queloz
University of Cambridge
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)
Roberto Ragazzoni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Università di Padova
N. Rando
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
H. Rauer
Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
Freie Universität Berlin
I. Ribas
Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC)
Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (ICE) - CSIC
M. Rieder
Universität Bern
N. C. Santos
Universidade do Porto
Gaetano Scandariato
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
D. Segransan
Université de Genève
A.E. Simon
Universität Bern
A. M.S. Smith
Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
S.G. Sousa
Universidade do Porto
M. Stalport
Universite de Liège
S. Sulis
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
G.M. Szabó
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
HUN-REN-ELTE Exoplanet Research Group
S. Udry
Université de Genève
B. Ulmer
Deutsches Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
S. Ulmer-Moll
Université de Genève
V. Van Grootel
Universite de Liège
J. Venturini
Université de Genève
E. Villaver
Universidad de 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 PressExoplaneter från rymden - CHEOPS och PLATO, ESA's nästa två missioner
Rymdstyrelsen (174/18), 2017-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Exoplaneter från rymden - CHEOPS och PLATO, ESA's nästa två rymdteleskop (fas 2)
Rymdstyrelsen (177/19), 2020-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Rymdstyrelsen (65/19), 2020-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Ämneskategorier
Rymd- och flygteknik
Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi
DOI
10.1016/j.jsse.2024.08.005