The SVOM satellite, a collaboration between China and France, has detected three gamma-ray bursts, marking a successful start to its scientific operations, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced.
The satellite was launched on June 22 of this year, and began providing valuable data shortly after one of its payloads, the Gammaray Burst Monitor, was activated on June 27.
These gamma-ray bursts, which are extremely energetic phenomena in distant galaxies, are the brightest and most intense events in the universe since the Big Bang.
After the first recording, two more bursts were captured on June 29 and July 2, cementing SVOM’s role as a vital resource in international astronomical research.
The collected data were shared with the Public Coordinate Network, a global collaboration platform in astronomy, underscoring the importance of the mission to the international scientific community.
In addition to its initial detection capabilities, SVOM is still fine-tuning other payloads on board, with significant contributions expected to the study of dark energy and the evolution of the universe.
The SVOM project, jointly developed by the China National Space Administration and the French National Center for Space Studies, began in 2005 and involved experts from prestigious research institutes such as the Institute of Research in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse and the Institute of High Energy Physics in Toulouse and Beijing.
SVOM operates in low Earth orbit and is designed for comprehensive, multi-band monitoring of gamma-ray bursts, which could open new avenues for understanding complex cosmological phenomena and the structure of the universe.
Preliminary results already suggest the potential for important discoveries in future satellite operations.
