3000 children’s drawings will fly

3000 children’s drawings will fly to space with CHEOPS.

The Space Telescope CHEOPS (CHaracterizing ExOPlanet Satellite) will be the first mission dedicated to search for transits by means of ultrahigh precision photometry on about 700 bright stars already known to host planets. The satellite will be built under the lead of researchers from the Centre of Space and Habitability, University of Bern, together with the Observatoire de Genève, the Space Center at EPF Lausanne and the Institute for Astronomy at ETH Zurich. 11 countries and ESA are involved in the mission.

The satellite will be launched into a low-Earth orbit in 2017. In addition to the scientific instruments there will be a plaque on board with 3000 engraved miniaturised drawings, made by children of the age from 8 up to 14 years. The majority of the drawings will come from Switzerland and will be collected in a joint campaign with the Schweizerische Astronomische Gesellschaft SAG. Before launch, the plaque will be mounted on the satellite by a representative of the Federal Council.

The drawings will be collected during public events organized to observe the partial solar eclipse on Friday, March 20^th, 2015, and during the «Night of Astronomy» on Saturday, March 21, 2015. The University of Bern will promote the events through the media in order to generate additional audience for the events all over Switzerland. The NCCR PlanetS will support the involved astronomy clubs with prepared drawing sheets, information about the CHEOPS mission and giveaways such as pins and paper models.

All the information about the drawings and what it takes to be a part of the events can be found on the website www.cheops.unibe.ch.