A satellite evolved through France and China has flown in search of the most powerful explosions in the universe, a remarkable example of cooperation between a Western force and the Asian giant.
On Saturday, the 930 kg (2,050 lb) satellite equipped with four tools, two French and two Chinese, took off around 3 p. m. (0700 GMT) aboard a Chinese Long March 2C rocket from a base in Xichang, southwest China’s Sichuan province, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Developed by engineers from both countries, the Space Variable Object Monitor (SVOM) will search for gamma-ray bursts, the light of which has traveled billions of light-years to reach Earth.
Gamma-ray bursts occur after massive stars (those more than 20 times larger than the Sun) or the merger of compact stars.
Extremely bright cosmic rays can emit a burst of power equivalent to that of a billion suns.
Observing them is like “looking back in time, as the light from these objects takes a long time to reach us”, Ore Gottlieb, an astrophysicist at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics in New York, told the AFP news agency.
“SVOM has the potential to get to the bottom of several mysteries in the realm of [gamma-ray bursts, GRBs], adding the detection of the most remote GRBs in the universe, which correspond to the first GRBs,” Gottlieb added.
The largest remote explosions known to date occurred just 630 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was in its infancy.
When in orbit 625 km (388 miles) above Earth, the satellite sends its knowledge to observatories. Once it detects a burst, SVOM sends an alert to a service team 24 hours a day.
Investigating the data could better understand the composition of space and the dynamics of gas clouds or other galaxies, analysts say.
The biggest challenge, however, is that gamma-ray bursts are brief, forcing scientists to race against time to gather information.
This assignment is the result of a partnership between the French and Chinese area agencies, as well as other clinical and technical teams from the two countries.
Space cooperation between the West and China is also rare at the moment, especially since the United States banned any collaboration between the American space company NASA and Beijing in 2011.
“US considerations about generational movement have largely prevented its allies from engaging with China, but it does happen occasionally,” Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the United States, told AFP.
So while SVOM is “by no means unique,” it is still “important” in the context of space collaboration between China and the West, McDowell added.
China’s progress in space and lunar exploration is outpacing that of the United States, attracting partners from European and Asian countries.
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe this month carried payloads from the European Space Agency, as well as research institutes in Pakistan, France and Italy, to the Moon’s aspect.
China is collaborating with countries such as Brazil, Egypt and Thailand to expand and launch satellites.