Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter ExoPlanets

CHEOPS status and perspectives

Marcus Kirsch, Maximilian Guenther
ESA ESOC

CHEOPS, ESA’s first small-class mission, was launched in December 2019 to perform high-precision photometry of known exoplanet systems. Operating a 30 cm Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with a back-illuminated CCD, CHEOPS has delivered precise measurements of planetary radii and transit timing variations. The mission is operated by the CHEOPS Consortium, with the University of Bern as project lead, the University of Geneva responsible for science operations, and INTA (Spain) handling spacecraft operations, supported by ESA. This talk presents an overview of the ground segment, operational strategy, and scientific highlights to date, along with prospects for mission extension and a controlled end-of-life deorbit. CHEOPS is bridging the gap between exoplanet discovery and detailed characterization, laying the groundwork for future studies with JWST, PLATO, and ARIEL—while already enabling the community to pursue in-depth investigations of exoplanets across a variety of disciplines.