CHEOPS space telescope ready for scientific operation

Image taken by CHEOPS from a star known as HD 88111. The star is located in the Hydra constellation, some 175 light years away from Earth, and it is not known to host any exoplanet. CHEOPS took an image of the star every 30 seconds for 47 consecutive hours © ESA/Airbus/CHEOPS Mission Consortium - CHEOPS has reached its next milestone: Following extensive tests in Earth's orbit, some of which the mission team was forced to carry out from home due to the coronavirus crisis, the space telescope has been declared ready for science. CHEOPS stands for 'CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite', and has the purpose of investigating known exoplanets to determine, among other things, whether they have conditions that are hospitable to life. CHEOPS is a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland, under the leadership of the University of Bern in collaboration with the University of Geneva (UNIGE). After almost three months of extensive testing, with part of it in the midst of the lockdown to contain the coronavirus, on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, ESA declared the CHEOPS space telescope ready for science. With this achievement, ESA has handed over the responsibility to operate CHEOPS to the mission consortium, which consists of scientists and engineers from approximately 30 institutions in 11 European countries.