About ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Space in Member States
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
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Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Cheops Archive
Characterising exoplanets known to be orbiting around nearby bright stars
The mission
Cheops is ESA's CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite. It is the first space mission dedicated to studying bright, nearby stars that are already known to host exoplanets, in order to make high-precision observations of the planet's size as it passes in front of its host star. It focuses on planets in the super-Earth to Neptune size range, with its data enabling the bulk density of the planets to be derived – a first-step characterisation towards understanding these alien worlds.
The launch
- Launch date: 18 December 2019
- Launch site: Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana
- Launch vehicle: Soyuz-Fregat
- Orbit: Sun-synchronous, dusk-dawn orbit at 700 km above Earth
- 1.5 m size
- 280 kg mass
- 19×19 arcmin field of view
- 1.2 Gbit/day data
