CHEOPS LAUNCH IS PLANNED FOR DECEMBER THE 17TH, 2019.
The Berlin’s DLR institutes of Optical Sensor Systems and Planetary Research developed the Focal Plane Module including detector electronics and the sensor control electronics.
CHEOPS – CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite – the ESA’s first small mission dedicated to searching for exoplanetary transits by performing ultrahigh precision photometry on bright stars already known to host planets.
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. The launch is planned in December 2019.