The Chinese-French SVOM mission for Gamma-Ray Burst studies

TL;DR

The SVOM mission is a collaborative Chinese-French space project designed to detect and analyze Gamma-Ray Bursts across multiple wavelengths, providing rapid localization and follow-up capabilities to advance GRB science.

Contribution

This paper introduces the innovative multi-instrument payload and international collaboration of the SVOM mission for comprehensive GRB studies.

Findings

Designed to detect ~80 GRBs per year of all types

Combines gamma-ray, X-ray, and optical instruments for broad coverage

Enables rapid localization and follow-up of GRBs, including high-redshift events

Abstract

We present the Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor mission (SVOM) decided by the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) and the French Space Agency (CNES). The mission which is designed to detect about 80 Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) of all known types per year, will carry a very innovative scientific payload combining a gamma-ray coded mask imagers sensitive in the range 4 keV to 250 keV, a soft X-ray telescope operating between 0.5 to 2 keV, a gamma-ray spectro-photometer sensitive in the range 50 keV to 5 MeV, and an optical telescope able to measure the GRB afterglow emission down to a magnitude limit M$_R=23$ with a 300 s exposure. A particular attention will be also paid to the follow-up in making easy the observation of the SVOM detected GRB by the largest ground based telescopes. Scheduled for a launch in 2013, it will provide fast and reliable GRB positions, will measure the broadband spectral energy distribution and temporal properties of the prompt emission, and will quickly identify the optical afterglows of detected GRBs, including those at very high redshift.