CoRoT
CoRoT (French: Convection, Rotation et Transits planétaires; English: Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly those of large terrestrial size, and to perform asteroseismology by measuring solar-like oscillations in stars. The mission was led by the French Space Agency (CNES) in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA) and other international partners.
The CoRoT satellite in the integration hall of Thales Alenia Space, Cannes | |
| Mission type | Space telescope |
|---|---|
| Operator | CNES / ESA |
| COSPAR ID | 2006-063A |
| SATCAT no. | 29678 |
| Website | corot |
| Mission duration | Planned: 2.5 + 4 years Final: 7 years, 5 months, 20 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | CNES Thales Alenia Space |
| Launch mass | 630 kg (1,390 lb) |
| Payload mass | 300 kg (660 lb) |
| Dimensions | 2 m × 4 m (6.6 ft × 13.1 ft) |
| Power | ≈380 W |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 27 December 2006, 14:24 UTC |
| Rocket | Soyuz 2.1b Fregat |
| Launch site | Baikonur LC-31/6 |
| Contractor | Arianespace Starsem |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Decommissioned |
| Deactivated | 17 June 2014, 10:27 UTC |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Polar |
| Semi-major axis | 7,123 km (4,426 mi) |
| Eccentricity | 0.0203702 |
| Perigee altitude | 607.8 km (377.7 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 898.1 km (558.1 mi) |
| Inclination | 90.0336 degrees |
| Period | 99.7 minutes |
| RAAN | 13.64 degrees |
| Argument of perigee | 148.21 degrees |
| Mean anomaly | 213.16 degrees |
| Mean motion | 14.44 rev/day |
| Epoch | 8 March 2016, 11:58:39 UTC |
| Revolution no. | 47715 |
| Main telescope | |
| Type | Afocal |
| Diameter | 27 cm (11 in) |
| Focal length | 1.1 m (43 in) |
| Wavelengths | Visible light |
Among the notable discoveries was CoRoT-7b, discovered in 2009 which became the first exoplanet shown to have a rock or metal-dominated composition.
CoRoT was launched at 14:28:00 UTC on 27 December 2006, atop a Soyuz 2.1b rocket, reporting first light on 18 January 2007. Subsequently, the probe started to collect science data on 2 February 2007. CoRoT was the first spacecraft dedicated to the detection of transiting extrasolar planets, opening the way for more advanced probes such as Kepler and TESS. It detected its first extrasolar planet, CoRoT-1b, in May 2007, just 3 months after the start of the observations. Mission flight operations were originally scheduled to end 2.5 years from launch but operations were extended to 2013. On 2 November 2012, CoRoT suffered a computer failure that made it impossible to retrieve any data from its telescope. Repair attempts were unsuccessful, so on 24 June 2013 it was announced that CoRoT has been retired and would be decommissioned; lowered in orbit to allow it to burn up in the atmosphere.