China and France launch a satellite to better understand the universe

A satellite, built by France and China, was launched on Saturday with the aim of detecting colossal explosions in the universein an example of cooperation between the Asian giant and a Western power.

This mission developed by engineers from both countries, known as Svom (Space Variable Objects Monitor), searches for so-called outbreaks of gamma raysluminous fossils that could contain information about the history of the universe.

The 930-kilogram satellite, which includes four instruments (two Chinese and two French), was launched “successfully” into space at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday (07:00 GMT) aboard a chinese rocket Long March 2-C from the Xichang space base, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, announced the Chinese space agency CNSA.

The shoots of gamma rays They generally occur after the explosion of massive stars (more than 20 times the mass of the Sun) or the merger of compact stars.

These flashes, the result of the most powerful explosions in the universe, give off a colossal luminosity that can emit energy equivalent to more than a trillion suns.

Observe these cosmic phenomenaIt is a bit like going back in time, since its light takes a long time to reach the Earth, several billion years in the case of the most distant ones.”explains Frédéric Daigne, from the Paris Institute of Astrophysics and one of the leading experts on gamma-ray bursts.

As it travels through space, this light also crosses different gases and galaxies, carrying traces with it that carry exceptional information about the history and evolution of the universe.

“Are cosmic explosions very extreme that allow us to better understand the death of some stars”Adds Daigne.

Race against time

The most distant gamma-ray burst identified so far occurred just 630 million years after the big Bangthat is, 5% of the current age of the universe.

This information can also be used to better understand the composition of space, the dynamics of gases and other galaxies.

The satellite, placed in Earth orbit at an altitude of 625 km, will send the information to the observatories on Earth.

The extreme brevity of the gamma ray bursts It will force scientists to react very quickly to gather information.

When the Svom mission identifies one, it will send an alert and, in less than five minutes, scientists will activate a network of telescopes on Earth that will align precisely on the axis of the source of the outbreak, to obtain more data.

This project is the result of a collaboration between the space agencies of France (CNES) and China (CNSA), in which other scientific and technical organizations from both countries also participate.

Cooperations like this between China and the West are not very frequent at this level, especially since the United States banned NASA from any cooperation with Beijing in space in 2011.

China and France They already launched together in 2018 an oceanographic satellite used for marine meteorology. And several European countries are also participating in China’s Chang’e lunar exploration program.