Launch and orbit

19 MRT. 2019 Publicatiedatum 1978 Weergaven

Cheops launched as a secondary passenger on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 18 December 2019.

The launcher delivered Cheops directly to its operational orbit, a Sun-synchronous dusk–dawn orbit 700 km above Earth.

This orbit allows the rear of the craft to permanently face the Sun with a minimum number of eclipses, offering a stable thermal environment and keeping stray light to a minimum while the instrument is observing night-side targets in the direction opposite to the Sun.

During each orbit the satellite slowly rotates around the telescope line of sight to keep the instrument radiators orientated away from Earth and therefore maintain the required detector temperature stability needed for precise measurements.


Gerelateerde links


blijf op de hoogte

Abonneer je op onze nieuwsbrief om het laatste nieuws, missie-updates en exclusieve inzichten rechtstreeks in je inbox te ontvangen. Wees als eerste op de hoogte van onze aankomende projecten en doorbraken.