The SVOM satellite will scan gamma-ray bursts from 2022. -

© CNES / ill. / SATTLER Oliver, 2015

  • In 2022, a Franco-Chinese satellite will be put into orbit 600 km around the Earth.

  • Thanks to its instruments, it will be able to detect gamma-ray bursts, these phenomena which result from the explosion of massive stars.

  • An observation that will allow us to capture the messages coming from the depths of the Universe and will teach us more about his youth.

To look at what is happening at the edge of the Universe is to look at the past and the famous Big Bang.

But it is difficult to see clearly in the long dark tunnel that leads to our distant origins, more than 13.6 billion years ago, to within a few million centuries.

In two years, however, astronomers will have one more chance to improve knowledge about the youth of our universe thanks to Svom.

Behind this acronym hides a Sino-French satellite project, which, in June 2022, will orbit 600 km around the Earth what is best in terms of instruments for observing gamma-ray bursts.

“These are atomic explosions when a star larger than our sun reaches the end of its life and dies.

There is then during a few tens of seconds a big flash and a considerable energy released.

It is these flashes that we want to detect and observe.

About one a day occurs, but we don't see them all, ”explains François Gonzalez, Svom project manager at CNES.

A phenomenon that also occurs when two neutron stars merge or a neutron star and a black hole.

Thanks to the ECLAIRs wide-field telescope, one of the two instruments under development at the Toulouse space center which allows one-sixth of the sky to be observed, these flashes will no longer go unnoticed.

As soon as one of these bursts is detected, the entire satellite will then turn to observe it using its other instruments.

[News @IRAP_France] The DPIX detection plan, made up of 6,400 X-ray and gamma detectors, and intended to equip the #ECLAIRs camera of the @SVOM_mission, was delivered to @CNES: https://t.co/QwoOoURZlj @CNRS_Toulouse @ UT3PaulSabatier pic.twitter.com/8xz8epaWYK

- IRAP (@IRAP_France) September 25, 2020

And the info transmitted to the ground will allow two large telescopes to record a whole lot of information about what happens after the explosion.

"Light has traveled for several billion years to get here, if we manage to observe a star that is very far away, we will be able to go back in time, to the time of the constitution of the Universe .

With Svom, we expect to see between 60 to 70 gamma-ray bursts per year ”, continues Jean-Luc Atteia, scientific manager of the mission and member of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology of Toulouse.

Also examine gravitational waves

A whole bunch of amateur astronomers, gathered within the Grandma network, will also be able to participate in the observation of these bursts.

Equipped with their telescopes more than 20 cm in diameter, they will be able to point them at the area identified by Svom.

"The alerts sent to the ground will be distributed throughout the world and all those connected to have access to them and observe these bursts for a few seconds or a few hours depending on their telescope", continues François Gonzalez.

🎞️Discover #SVOM's "Target of Opportunity" program which will allow you to search for the optical counterparts of gravitational waves with #MXT @CNES https://t.co/OvqhJGCBgf

- SVOM (@SVOM_mission) November 14, 2019

And between two bursts, the satellite will be able to concentrate on other missions.

In particular on the observation of gravitational waves.

Once detected by sensors on the ground, these jolts of space-time born from the merger of two black holes.

“Svom will thus give us information on the history of the birth of black holes at the beginning of the Universe and how this population of black holes has evolved over time.

This mission gives us the ability to go looking for a needle in a haystack, ”assures Jean-Luc Atteia.

The Cnes and Irap teams working on one of the instruments for the future Svom satellite.

- © CNES / TRONQUART Nicolas

This is not trivial at the scientific or diplomatic level.

This Franco-Chinese cooperation around this project dates from 2006 and almost did not see the light of day after a hiatus in the early 2010. A project worth 110 million euros, excluding labor, which must also compose with the preservation of certain industrial secrets that each of the nations wants to keep.

Our Space file

After falling a few months behind with containment, the project is now in the home stretch and the integration and testing phase of CNES instruments should be completed during the next year before leaving for China. in October 2021.

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