In-situ observations of resident space objects with the CHEOPS space telescope

Autor(en)

Nicolas Billot, Stephan Hellmich, Willy Benz, Andrea Fortier, David Ehrenreich, Christopher Broeg, Alexis Heitzmann, Anja Bekkelien, Alexis Brandeker, Yann Alibert, Roi Alonso, Tamas Bárczy, David Barrado Navascues, Susana C.C. Barros, Wolfgang Baumjohann, Federico Biondi, Luca Borsato, Andrew Collier Cameron, Carlos Corral van Damme, Alexandre C.M. Correia, Szilard Csizmadia, Patricio E. Cubillos, Melvyn B. Davies, Magali Deleuil, Adrien Deline, Olivier D.S. Demangeon, Brice Olivier Demory, Aliz Derekas, Billy Edwards, Jo Ann Egger, Anders Erikson, Luca Fossati, Malcolm Fridlund, Davide Gandolfi, Kosmas Gazeas, Michaël Gillon, Manuel Güdel, Maximilian N. Günther, Ch Helling, Kate G. Isaak, Laszlo L. Kiss, Judith Korth, Kristine W.F. Lam, Jacques Laskar, Alain Lecavelier des Etangs, Monika Lendl, Demetrio Magrin, Pierre F.L. Maxted, Marko Mecina, Bruno Merín, Christoph Mordasini, Valerio Nascimbeni, Göran Olofsson, Roland Ottensamer, Isabella Pagano, Enric Pallé, Gisbert Peter, Daniele Piazza, Giampaolo Piotto, Don Pollacco, Didier Queloz, Roberto Ragazzoni, Nicola Rando, Heike Rauer, Ignasi Ribas, Martin Rieder, Nuno C. Santos, Gaetano Scandariato, Damien Ségransan, Attila E. Simon, Alexis M.S. Smith, Sérgio G. Sousa, Manu Stalport, Sophia Sulis, Gyula M. Szabó, Stéphane Udry, Bernd Ulmer, Solène Ulmer-Moll, Valérie Van Grootel, Julia Venturini, Eva Villaver, Nicholas A. Walton, Thomas G. Wilson

Abstrakt

The CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) is a partnership between the European Space Agency and Switzerland with important contributions by 10 additional ESA member States. It is the first S-class mission in the ESA Science Programme. CHEOPS has been flying on a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit since December 2019, collecting millions of short-exposure images in the visible domain to study exoplanet properties. A small yet increasing fraction of CHEOPS images show linear trails caused by resident space objects crossing the instrument field of view. CHEOPS’ orbit is indeed particularly favourable to serendipitously detect objects in its vicinity as the spacecraft rarely enters the Earth's shadow, sits at an altitude of 700 km, and observes with moderate phase angles relative to the Sun. This observing configuration is quite powerful, and it is complementary to optical observations from the ground. To characterize the population of satellites and orbital debris observed by CHEOPS, all and every science images acquired over the past 3 years have been scanned with a Hough transform algorithm to identify the characteristic linear features that these objects cause on the images. Thousands of trails have been detected. This statistically significant sample shows interesting trends and features such as an increased occurrence rate over the past years as well as the fingerprint of the Starlink constellation. The cross-matching of individual trails with catalogued objects is underway as we aim to measure their distance at the time of observation and deduce the apparent magnitude of the detected objects. As space agencies and private companies are developing new space-based surveillance and tracking activities to catalogue and characterize the distribution of small debris, the CHEOPS experience is timely and relevant. With the first CHEOPS mission extension currently running until the end of 2026, and a possible second extension until the end of 2029, the longer time coverage will make our dataset even more valuable to the community, especially for characterizing objects with recurrent crossings.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Astrophysik

Externe Organisation(en)

Universität Genf, EPFL Laboratory of Astrophysics (LASTRO), Universität Bern, Stockholm University, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Universidad de La Laguna, Admatis, Centre for Astrobiology (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Universidade do Porto, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, University of St. Andrews, European Space Research & Technology Centre (ESA/ESTEC), Universidade de Coimbra, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Lund University, Aix-Marseille Université, Eötvös Loránd University Budapest, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Leiden University, Chalmers University of Technology, Università degli Studi di Torino, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Université de Liège, Technische Universität Graz, HUN-REN Magyar Kutatási Hálózat, Lund Observatory, Université de recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres, Université Paris VI - Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Keele University, European Space Astronomy Centre (ESA), INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Università degli Studi di Padova, University of Warwick, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, University of Cambridge, Freie Universität Berlin (FU), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), HUN-REN-ELTE Exoplanet Research Group

Journal

Journal of Space Safety Engineering

Band

11

Seiten

498-506

Anzahl der Seiten

9

ISSN

2468-8975

Publikationsdatum

09-2024

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103003 Astronomie, 103004 Astrophysik, 103038 Weltraumforschung

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Aerospace Engineering, Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/40fdfb54-7940-4e34-8b8f-93c6c9f4fc8b