CHEOPS exoplanet search extended for another three years

The CHEOPS mission has provided a wealth of data on other planetry systems. © ESA / ATG medialab

The European Space Agency (ESA) CHEOPS project, which is jointly run from Switzerland, has been cleared to continue operations until at least 2026, provided funding can be found.

The Swiss-designed telescope aboard the CHEOPS satellite tracks down and measures exoplanets, which are planet orbiting stars other than the Sun.

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The data is processed by a team of scientists from the universities of Bern and Geneva.

The satellite was launched into space in 2019 with an original three-and-a-half-year time frame, which is due to end in September.

The success of the mission has persuaded the ESA to keep it running for another three years, with an option of continuing until 2029.

In addition to discovering new exoplanets, CHEOPS also found an extra ring around the asteroid Quaoar.

Scientists will use the data sent back by CHEOPS to map the history of planetary systems and determine the possibility of life forms outside of our own planet.

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“The precision of CHEOPS has exceeded all expectations and has enabled us to determine the properties of several of the most interesting exoplanets,” said Willy Benz, emeritus professor of astrophysics at the University of Bern.

“We’ve only scratched the surface of CHEOPS’s capabilities so far. The satellite offers many more scientific opportunities that we look forward to exploring.”

This includes research of exomoons, which are moons orbiting exoplanets.