SPACE VARIABLE OBJECTS
MONITOR (SVOM) - SCI & TECH
News: Rocket carrying French-Chinese
satellite launches from southwestern China to study gamma-ray bursts
What's in the news?
●
Recently, a Long March 2-C rocket successfully
launched the French-Chinese satellite Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM)
from southwestern China.
Space Variable Objects
Monitor (SVOM):
●
The Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a
satellite created by France and China to
detect and study gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).
Backdrop:
●
It was launched using a Long March-2C rocket from
the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province, China.
Features:
●
The satellite weighs 930 kilograms and carries four
instruments, two from France and two from China.
●
It orbits over 600
kilometers above Earth and is designed to last five years, though
scientists believe it could work for up to 20 years.
Significance:
●
It can help solve
many mysteries about GRBs, including detecting the most distant ones in the
universe, which are the oldest GRBs.
●
The data collected will help test the laws of
physics in extreme conditions that cannot be recreated on Earth and provide new
insights into how the universe works.
Go back to basics:
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs):
●
GRBs are powerful
bursts of energy that usually happen when massive stars explode or when
compact stars merge. These stars are often more
than 20 times the size of the sun.
●
These bursts are extremely bright and can release more energy than a billion suns.
●
Observing GRBs is like looking back in time because
the light from these events takes a long time to reach Earth.
●
As GRBs travel through space, they carry
information about the gas clouds and galaxies they pass, which helps scientists
learn more about the history and evolution of the universe.
●
GRBs are difficult
to detect because they can appear anywhere in the sky and last only a few
seconds. Earth’s atmosphere absorbs them, so they must be observed from space.