June 25, 2024
sichuan A cutting-edge astronomical spacecraft jointly developed by China and France was launched into its predetermined orbit on Saturday afternoon to capture and observe gamma-ray bursts – the most distant explosions of stars, the China National Space Administration said.
The Space Variable Objects Monitor spacecraft is a combination of small telescopes. It was put into low Earth orbit by a Chinese Long March 2C carrier rocket, which launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province at 3 p.m., the administration said in a news release.
The 930-kg spacecraft was built by the Institute of Innovation for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. It carries four scientific payloads: the ECLAIRs Coded Mask Camera and Microchannel X-ray Telescope built by French scientists, and the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and Visible Telescope built by a Chinese team.
CNSA said it is the best spacecraft ever built for multi-band comprehensive observation of gamma-ray bursts, and is expected to play an important role in space-based astronomical exploration.
Gamma-ray bursts, which are extremely energetic explosions in distant galaxies, are the brightest and most extreme explosive events in the universe and the most energetic and brightest electromagnetic events since the Big Bang.
Humanity's first knowledge of gamma-ray bursts came from the accidental detection of one such burst on 2 July 1967 by the United States Vela-series satellites, tasked with detecting gamma radiation pulses emitted from nuclear weapon tests.
In 1973, American scientists published the first research paper about the astronomical phenomenon.
Several spacecraft, including NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and High Energy Transient Explorer 2, and the Italian-Dutch astronomical satellite Bepposax, have been sent into space to detect gamma ray bursts.
The SVOM project, launched in 2005, is the result of a long-term collaboration between the CNSA and France's National Centre for Space Studies. It involves scientists and engineers from several institutions, including the Astrophysics and Planetary Science Research Institute in Toulouse and the Institute for High Energy Physics in Beijing.
After its orbital deployment, scientists from both China and France will work together to control the satellite, acquire scientific data and arrange follow-up observations.
The main scientific objectives of the SVOM mission include searching for and detecting various gamma-ray bursts early; comprehensively measuring and studying their electromagnetic radiation properties; using the bursts to study dark energy and the evolution of the universe; and observing electromagnetic signals associated with gravitational waves.
Wei Jianyan, a scientist at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese principal investigator of the SVOM mission, said the state-of-the-art satellite has world-class technologies, large field of view and is capable of making highly precise observations.
“As soon as the satellite detects a gamma-ray burst, it can send information to ground control within about a minute,” he said. “After receiving that information, ground control will notify ground-based observation stations around the world to use their assets to make an integrated detection with the spacecraft.
“We hope that we will be able to 'see' the earliest gamma-ray bursts that occur in the most distant parts of the universe, and this will help scientists learn more about the 'childhood' of the universe and its evolution.”
In addition, Wei said, the SVOM satellite is particularly well suited to searching for kilonovae, which are bright bursts of electromagnetic radiation that occur when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a stellar-mass black hole collide and merge.
“Discoveries like this will be extremely important for the study of stellar evolution, and will help answer very interesting scientific questions, such as where heavy elements like gold and silver come from in the universe,” he said.
SVOM is the second satellite jointly developed by China and France, following the China-France oceanography satellite launched in October 2018 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.
That satellite has obtained a wealth of data that has been used to study sea surface winds and waves, predict cyclones and improve scientists' understanding of climate change.
On China's ongoing Chang'e 6 robotic lunar mission, a radon-measuring instrument built by French scientists has been placed on the far side of the moon. The data collected is expected to help study the movement of lunar dust and certain volatile chemicals between the lunar regolith, a layer of unconsolidated rocky material, and the lunar exosphere.
Liu Yunfeng, deputy director of the CNSA's international cooperation department, said China and France are both global space powers and are determined to advance their cooperation in space science and technology to unravel the mysteries of the universe, enrich humanity's knowledge and use their space programmes for the benefit of the world.