CHEOPS Mission
On 19 October 2012, CHEOPS was selected for study as the first S-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision program 2015-2025. The mission was formally adopted in early February 2014. CHEOPS was launched in December 2019.
The CHEOPS mission is a partnership between Switzerland and ESA's Science Programme, with important contributions from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The CHEOPS mission baseline relies on components with flight heritage. This is valid for the platform as well as for the payload components. The design relies on components with flight heritage, both at platform and at payload level thus minimising both cost and risk.
Mid-2013 DLR has been selected to contribute the Focal Plane Module where the single CCD detector is integrated. The Institute of Optical Sensor Systems develops this major sub-system together with the Institute of Planetary Research.