CHEOPS in-flight performance: A comprehensive look at the first 3.5 years of operations
Abstract
CHEOPS is a space telescope specifically designed to monitor transiting exoplanets orbiting bright stars. In September 2023, CHEOPS completed its nominal mission and remains in excellent operational conditions. The mission has been extended until the end of 2026. Scientific and instrumental data have been collected throughout in-orbit commissioning and nominal operations, enabling a comprehensive analysis of the mission's performance. In this article, we present the results of this analysis with a twofold goal. First, we aim to inform the scientific community about the present status of the mission and what can be expected as the instrument ages. Secondly, we intend for this publication to serve as a legacy document for future missions, providing insights and lessons learned from the successful operation of CHEOPS. To evaluate the instrument performance in flight, we developed a comprehensive monitoring and characterisation programme. It consists of dedicated observations that allow us to characterise the instrument's response. In addition to the standard collection of nominal science and housekeeping data, these observations provide input for detecting, modelling, and correcting instrument systematics, discovering and addressing anomalies, and comparing the instrument's actual performance with expectations. The precision of the CHEOPS measurements has enabled the mission objectives to be met and exceeded. Careful modelling of the instrumental systematics allows the data quality to be significantly improved during the light curve analysis phase, resulting in more precise scientific measurements. CHEOPS is compliant with the driving scientific requirements of the mission. Although visible, the ageing of the instrument has not affected the mission's performance.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2406.01716,
title = {CHEOPS in-flight performance: A comprehensive look at the first 3.5 years of operations},
author = {A. Fortier and A. E. Simon and C. Broeg and G. Olofsson and A. Deline and T. G. Wilson and P. F. L. Maxted and A. Brandeker and A. Collier Cameron and M. Beck and A. Bekkelien and N. Billot and A. Bonfanti and G. Bruno and J. Cabrera and L. Delrez and B. -O. Demory and D. Futyan and H. -G. Florén and M. N. Günther and A. Heitzmann and S. Hoyer and K. G. Isaak and S. G. Sousa and M. Stalport and A. Turin and P. Verhoeve and B. Akinsanmi and Y. Alibert and R. Alonso and D. Bánhidi and T. Bárczy and D. Barrado and S. C. Barros and W. Baumjohann and T. Baycroft and T. Beck and W. Benz and B. I. Bíró and A. Bódi and X. Bonfils and L. Borsato and S. Charnoz and B. Cseh and Sz. Csizmadia and I. Csányi and P. E. Cubillos and M. B. Davies and Y. T. Davis and M. Deleuil and O. D. S. Demangeon and A. Derekas and G. Dransfield and E. Ducrot and D. Ehrenreich and A. Erikson and C. Fariña and L. Fossati and M. Fridlund and D. Gandolfi and Z. Garai and L. Garcia and M. Gillon and Y. Gómez Maqueo Chew and M. A. Gómez-Muñoz and V. Granata and M. Güdel and P. Guterman and T. Hegedüs and Ch. Helling and E. Jehin and Cs. Kalup and D. Kilkenny and L. Kiss and L. Kriskovics and K. W. F. Lam and J. Laskar and A. Lecavelier des Etangs and M. Lendl and A. Lopez Pina and A. Luntzer and D. Magrin and N. J. Miller and D. Modrego Contreras and C. Mordasini and M. Munari and C. A. Murray and V. Nascimbeni and H. Ottacher and R. Ottensamer and I. Pagano and A. Pál and E. Pallé and A. Pasetti and P. Pedersen and G. Peter and R. Petrucci and G. Piotto and A. Pizarro-Rubio and D. Pollacco and T. Pribulla and D. Queloz and R. Ragazzoni and N. Rando and H. Rauer and I. Ribas and L. Sabin and N. C. Santos and G. Scandariato and N. Schanche and U. Schroffenegger and O. J. Scutt and D. Sebastian and D. Ségransan and B. Seli and A. M. S. Smith and R. Southworth and M. R. Standing and M. Gy. Szabó and R. Szakáts and N. Thomas and M. Timmermans and A. H. M. J. Triaud and S. Udry and V. Van Grootel and J. Venturini and E. Villaver and J. Vinkó and N. A. Walton and R. Wells and D. Wolter},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.01716},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics