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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

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

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.