ESA Science Programme’s new small satellite will study super-Earths

ESA Science Programme's new small satellite will study super-Earths PR 35 2012 - Studying planets around other stars will be the focus of the new small Science Programme mission, Cheops, ESA announced today. Its launch is expected in 2017. Cheops - for CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite - will target nearby, bright stars already known to have planets orbiting around them. Through high-precision monitoring of the star's brightness, scientists will search for the telltale signs of a 'transit' as a planet passes briefly across its face. In turn, this will allow an accurate measurement of the radius of the planet. For those planets with a known mass, the density will be revealed, providing an indication of the internal structure. These key parameters will help scientists to understand the formation of planets from a few times the mass of the Earth - 'super-Earths' - up to Neptune-sized worlds.