Ground segment

The software for processing raw data on the ground and generating light-curve products ‘cleaned’ of noise and biases, ready for scientific analysis, is being supplied by the LAM astrophysics laboratory in Marseille. The exactness of these curves will enable the mass and radius of exoplanets to be determined much more precisely.

• The Science Operations Centre (SOC) at the University of Geneva in Switzerland will plan observations and coordinate the ground segment.

• The Mission Operations Centre (MOC), from where commands will be uplinked to CHEOPS from ground antennas, will be under the responsibility of Spain. It will receive telemetry from the satellite and relay it to the SOC. These raw data will be processed at the SOC, archived in Portugal and then distributed to the scientific community.

CHEOPS is expected to generate 1 Gigabytes of data every day. Scientific analysis of these data will be conducted in France, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden and Spain. Analysis in France will be chiefly under the responsibility of LAM.