CHEOPS in-flight performance: A comprehensive look at the first 3.5 years of operations
arxiv(2024)
Abstract
CHEOPS is a space telescope specifically designed to monitor transiting
exoplanets orbiting bright stars. In September 2023, CHEOPS completed its
nominal mission and remains in excellent operational conditions. The mission
has been extended until the end of 2026. Scientific and instrumental data have
been collected throughout in-orbit commissioning and nominal operations,
enabling a comprehensive analysis of the mission's performance. In this
article, we present the results of this analysis with a twofold goal. First, we
aim to inform the scientific community about the present status of the mission
and what can be expected as the instrument ages. Secondly, we intend for this
publication to serve as a legacy document for future missions, providing
insights and lessons learned from the successful operation of CHEOPS. To
evaluate the instrument performance in flight, we developed a comprehensive
monitoring and characterisation programme. It consists of dedicated
observations that allow us to characterise the instrument's response. In
addition to the standard collection of nominal science and housekeeping data,
these observations provide input for detecting, modelling, and correcting
instrument systematics, discovering and addressing anomalies, and comparing the
instrument's actual performance with expectations. The precision of the CHEOPS
measurements has enabled the mission objectives to be met and exceeded. Careful
modelling of the instrumental systematics allows the data quality to be
significantly improved during the light curve analysis phase, resulting in more
precise scientific measurements. CHEOPS is compliant with the driving
scientific requirements of the mission. Although visible, the ageing of the
instrument has not affected the mission's performance.
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