The Sino-French cooperation SVOM satellite is scheduled to be launched this year, and the VT subsystem prototype products have been successfully delivered to the total.
CTOnews.com, February 14, the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Machinery of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that the prototype products of the SVOM satellite VT subsystem, a Sino-French space telescope project, were successfully released and delivered on February 10.
According to reports, after nearly 20 years of unremitting efforts, SVOM satellite has completed a series of work in the past three years, such as positive optical processing, mechanical assembly, electronics debugging, performance calibration, and environmental testing, and finally developed genuine products that meet the needs of users.
Public data show that the astronomical satellite (SVOM,Space Variable Objects Monitor) jointly developed by China and France, namely "Space-based Multi-band Space variable Source Monitor", is an important gamma burst multi-band detection project after SWIFT in the United States, with functions and features such as multi-band observation, rapid maneuver, flexible operation and ground follow-up observation.
The satellite will carry four equipment: an X-ray astronomical telescope (MXT), an X-ray and gamma-ray camera (ECLAIRs), a gamma burst monitor (GRM) and an optical telescope (VT).
The satellite has a working orbit of 635km x 30 °Leo, a design life of 3 years, a full weight of about 930kg and a heavy load of 450kg. It is scheduled to be launched by a long March 2C carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite launch Center in 2023 to detect the most powerful phenomenon in the universe-gamma ray bursts.
China is responsible for the launch and operation of the satellite, while equipment and ground research are jointly carried out by China and France. It is reported that the French National Centre for Space Research (CNES) is responsible for managing the French part of the project; the cost excluding human resources consumption is about 110 million euros.
In fact, the Chinese and French governments signed the Agreement on Cooperation in Research and peaceful uses of Outer Space as early as 1997. CTOnews.com has reported that the French National Space Center has launched a Sino-French ocean satellite in 2018 in cooperation with the National Space Administration of China to study climate change by observing wind fields and waves on the ocean surface.
Expanded Reading: "China's successful launch of Sino-French Marine Satellite"
