China and France Ready to Launch Gamma Ray Hunter Satellite

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France and China are working together to launch the Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) or satellite that hunts for gamma ray bursts (Gamma Ray Burst/GRB). Photo/NewScientist/Space/CAS

PARIS – France and China are working together to launch the Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) or satellite that hunts for gamma-ray bursts (Gamma Ray Burst / GRB). Gamma-ray bursts can help scientists discover how quickly the universe formed.

Gamma-ray bursts are the most brilliant events in the universe, occurring when massive stars die in supernova explosions. It can also be when massive objects like neutron stars collide with each other, producing intense flashes of radiation.

Gamma-ray bursts from the distant universe could provide a new way to measure cosmic distances. Gamma-ray bursts can also help understand the structure and formation of the universe.

Currently France is preparing a pair of sophisticated scientific instruments called the Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) to hunt for gamma-ray bursts. The space observatory will be sent to Xichang for launch into space on China’s Long March 2C rocket.

Quoted from the Space page, Monday (6/3/2023), SVOM, a space-based multi-band astronomical device is a collaboration between the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Center national d’études spatiales (CNES) since 2014. SVOM seeks detects short-lived, loud bursts of gamma rays.

The 930-kilogram satellite will now be launched by a Long March 2C rocket from Xichang spaceport in southwest China in December 2023. The mission’s Twitter account said on February 21, 2023 two satellite payloads were ready to travel to China for integration with the satellite.

The SVOM satellite was developed by the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellite China. The satellite is designed for a nominal mission of three years with a possible extension of the mission for another two years.

Both China and France will contribute to the ground segment of the mission to control the spacecraft, receive science data, and organize follow-up observations of gamma-ray bursts.

In this joint mission, China provided a Gamma Ray Burst Monitor (GRM) to measure the emission spectrum of the GRB. Meanwhile, the Visible Telescope (VT) will look for light emitted in optical wavelengths immediately after a gamma ray explosion (GRB).

Meanwhile, France is responsible for developing the ECLAIR telescope and the Microchannel X-ray Telescope (MXT). The latter uses innovative “lobster eye” optics to allow for a wide field of view.

The mission consortium includes the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP) in France and the Chinese National Astronomical Observatory (NAOC). There is also the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in China, as well as the University of Leicester in England and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

(wib)