European exoplanet telescope blasts off

The European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft destined to study planets in other solar systems launched early on Wednesday after a 24-hour delay. Blast off in French Guiana had to be postponed because of a software issue in the upper part of the rocket.

The CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) mission took off atop a Russian Soyuz rocket. The rocket also carried a separate Earth observation satellite for the Italian space agency, which will separate from CHEOPS four hours after launch.

CHEOPs will focus on planets known to astronomers in nearby solar systems that are in the "super-Earth to Neptune size range."

"We know nothing, except that they are there," Swiss astronomer Didier Queloz, who heads the CHEOPS team, told the Associated Press.

A special telescope will analyze the densities and radii of the exoplanets and also try to determine whether they have atmospheres. This could provide a wealth of information about how extraterrestrial life might be supported elsewhere, but also about the origins of our lives on Earth.

 "We are one planetary system among many,'' Queloz, who is also a Nobel Prize winner, said. "It's all about our place in the universe and trying to understand it.''

es/sms (AP, AFP)