Nicolas Billot
In-situ observations of resident space objects with the CHEOPS space telescope
Billot, Nicolas; Hellmich, Stephan; Benz, Willy; Fortier, Andrea; Ehrenreich, David; Broeg, Christopher; Heitzmann, Alexis; Bekkelien, Anja; Brandeker, Alexis; Alibert, Yann; Alonso, Roi; Bárczy, Tamas; Barrado Navascues, David; Barros, Susana C.C.; Baumjohann, Wolfgang; Biondi, Federico; Borsato, Luca; Collier Cameron, Andrew; Corral van Damme, Carlos; Correia, Alexandre C.M.; Csizmadia, Szilard; Cubillos, Patricio E.; Davies, Melvyn B.; Deleuil, Magali; Deline, Adrien; Demangeon, Olivier D.S.; Demory, Brice-Olivier; Derekas, Aliz; Edwards, Billy; Egger, Jo Ann; Erikson, Anders; Fossati, Luca; Fridlund, Malcolm; Gandolfi, Davide; Gazeas, Kosmas; Gillon, Michaël; Güdel, Manuel; Günther, Maximilian N.; Helling, Ch.; Isaak, Kate G.; Kiss, Laszlo L.; Korth, Judith; Lam, Kristine W.F.; Laskar, Jacques; Lecavelier des Etangs, Alain; Lendl, Monika; Magrin, Demetrio; Maxted, Pierre F.L.; Mecina, Marko; Merín, Bruno; Mordasini, Christoph; Nascimbeni, Valerio; Olofsson, Göran; Ottensamer, Rolan...
Authors
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 Maxted p.maxted@keele.ac.uk
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
Abstract
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.
Citation
Billot, N., Hellmich, S., Benz, W., Fortier, A., Ehrenreich, D., Broeg, C., …Wilson, T. G. (2024). In-situ observations of resident space objects with the CHEOPS space telescope. Journal of Space Safety Engineering, 11(3), 498-506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsse.2024.08.005
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Aug 8, 2024 |
Online Publication Date | Aug 24, 2024 |
Publication Date | 2024-09 |
Deposit Date | Jan 10, 2025 |
Journal | Journal of Space Safety Engineering |
Print ISSN | 2468-8975 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 11 |
Issue | 3 |
Pages | 498-506 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsse.2024.08.005 |
Keywords | Satellite; Telescope; Debris; Astronomy |
Public URL | https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/1045926 |
Publisher URL | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468896724001186?via%3Dihub |
Additional Information | This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: In-situ observations of resident space objects with the CHEOPS space telescope; Journal Title: Journal of Space Safety Engineering; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsse.2024.08.005; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2024 International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety. Published by Elsevier Ltd. |
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