From a demonstration model to the flight model: AIV procedures and results for CHEOPS telescope

CHEOPS (CHaracterizing ExOPlanets Satellite) is an ESA Small Mission, planned to be launched in early 2019 and whose main goal is the photometric precise characterization of the radii of exoplanets orbiting bright stars (V<12) already known to host planets. The telescope is composed by two optical systems: a compact on-axis F/5 Ritchey-Chrétien, with an aperture of 320 mm and a Back-End Optics, reshaping a defocused PSF on the detector. In this paper we describe how alignment and integration, as well as ground support equipment, realized on a demonstrator model at INAF Padova, evolved and were successfully applied during the AIV phase of the flight model telescope subsystem at LEONARDO, the Italian industrial prime contractor premises. © COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.