The Franco-Chinese Svom mission is due to be launched on Saturday. Its goal is to observe gamma-ray bursts, these explosions discovered by chance by American spy satellites in the 1960s.
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A camera flash, coming from the depths of the universe, like a lighthouse in the cosmos: this is what we can compare the gamma-ray bursts, which will be observed by a satellite of the Franco-Chinese mission, Svom , which launches on Saturday June 22. “A gamma burst is a very intense flash of gamma radiation, explains Bertrand Cordier, scientific manager of the SVOM mission. This flash actually signals a violent phenomenon, that is to say the collapse and death of a massive star which is in the process of forming a black hole.
These gamma-ray bursts were discovered by chance by American spy satellites in the 1960s, and since then scientists have been trying to understand these phenomena. “They are interesting for two reasons, indicates Bertrand Cordier. First, understand how we can produce so much energy in such a short time and then use it as light to probe the universe, since the most distant bursts are detected when the universe is old. a few hundred million years.”
To observe gamma-ray bursts, French and Chinese scientists have developed four instruments on board the satellite. Two of them were manufactured in France at the astrophysics department of the CEA in Saclay, where the observations will take place.
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At each start, the on-call teams will have to be very reactive. “Most bursts will last a few seconds, explains Clara Place, a scientist who is called a “startle lawyer”. The role of the startle lawyer is to defend his startle, it will become his object. He will have to prove to the community with all the data he has that this burst is interesting and that we must go and observe this source as quickly as possible, before the emission fades completely.” It will then be up to the ground-based telescopes to point in the right direction to collect more data. The first observations from the SVOM satellite are planned for August.
This is not the only cooperation project between France and China in space matters. The other current mission is Chang’e 6, a Chinese probe which landed on the far side of the Moon at the beginning of June 2024. On board this probe, the French instrument called Dorn is responsible for studying a radioactive natural gas, radon, on the surface of the Moon. “For France, the interest is that ultimately it only finances the instrument, it does not finance the cost of the satellite and the cost of the launch, indicates Isabelle Sourbès-Verger, geographer, specialist in space policies. Afterwards, scientific data is distributed internationally and on the Chinese side, it is very important to be recognized, even if today, Chinese successes alone already allow them to be very proud of their space program.”
This space program therefore has a scientific side, conducive to cooperation, but at the same time China is engaged in a program of space conquest, with other geopolitical issues. Its goal is to achieve everything that the great space powers have been able to achieve before. “First they make application satellites and they send men into space and start building their stations”explains Isabelle Sourbès-Verger.
“Does China claim to be a competitor to the United States? Maybe not, but in any case, it can rise to a level where it can be a major partner.”
Isabelle Sourbès-Vergerat franceinfo
However, there is no question of the United States cooperating with the Chinese on space issues. For Isabelle Sourbès-Verger, “the United States truly views its power in space as unrivaled.” The two countries have promised to send astronauts to the Moon in the coming years, by 2026 for the United States and 2030 for China.