SVOM

Feb 28, 2023

The 'brain' of the SVOM ECLAIRs telescope has been delivered

CEA has delivered the flight version of the ECLAIRs onboard software to CNES after 6 years of development.

CEA has delivered to CNES the flight version of the ECLAIRs instrument software for the SVOM satellite. This concludes a major instrumental development phase conducted by CEA over a period of 6 years to produce what is maybe one of the most complex software packages ever carried on a French scientific space instrument. The latest version of the software equips the ECLAIRs onboard computer, which departed to China in early 2023.

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Apr 14, 2022

Team glimpses before a long journey

The Eclairs and MXT instruments of the SVOM mission delivered to CNES-Toulouse

The French teams of the ECLAIRs and MXT telescopes, instruments at the heart of the SVOM mission, experienced an important moment during March 2022. First, a general review of the two projects took place at CNES in Toulouse in front of a group of experts. This review allowed to verify that the two instruments meet the technical specifications and will be able to carry out the scientific mission.

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May 28, 2021

A lobster eye to track cosmic explosions

The MXT camera for the SVOM mission has just been assembled and delivered by the CEA

An X-ray camera, intended to equip the Sino-French SVOM satellite, has just been assembled and delivered by scientists and technicians from the Institute for Research on the Fundamental Laws of the Universe (CEA/Irfu). This high-tech prototype will capture high-energy photons (X-rays) emitted during the explosion of massive stars or the fusion of dense stars. The camera, particularly compact and innovative, integrates in a very limited volume, a complete detection chain, an active thermal control and a filter wheel.

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Oct 06, 2019

First results of the SVOM mission before launch !

Optical follow-up of gravitionnal waves

The first results of the space mission SVOM (for Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor) have just fallen before the launch scheduled for the end of 2021. How is this possible? Quite simply because this ambitious Franco-Chinese mission, which aims at studying gamma-ray bursts of the Universe, is also developing a network of ground-based cameras able to detect the emission of visible light that follows the outbreak of these bursts, the most violent known explosions.

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First results of the SVOM mission before launch !

Jan 21, 2019

SVOM mission: delivery of the ECLAIR ECU software

On November 29, 2018, the first version of the ECU software for the ECLAIRs instrument was delivered. This computer, called Gamma Camera Management and Scientific Processing Unit, will be set on the Franco-Chinese SVOM satellite, designed to study gamma-ray bursts. It will allow the management of the ECLAIRs instrument and the detection of gamma-ray bursts by the SVOM mission in real time on board.

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Nov 07, 2018

MXT: Delivery of the camera Structural and Thermal Model

A prototype of the MXT camera arrived at the CNES in Toulouse on 25 October 2018. This is the Structural and Thermal Model (STM), which will be integrated into the telescope that will be sent to China to be mounted on the SVOM satellite Qualification Model. The objective of this model is to validate the thermo-mechanical design of the camera. It also makes it possible to check the manufacturing and assembly capacity of the various components, which represent more than 1,000 elements.

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MXT: Delivery of the camera Structural and Thermal Model

Sep 26, 2018

MXT camera first light

X-ray photons were detected for the first time in late August 2018 with an engineering model of the SVOM MXT focal plane. This is an important step towards the validation of the design of the detection chain. The MXT telescope, for Microchannel X-ray Telescope, will be flown on board the SVOM satellite, a collaborative project between France (CNES) and China (CAS, CNSA) to study gamma-ray bursts. It aims at detecting soft X-rays (0.

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Sep 30, 2014

2014, a new start for SVOM

Progress and involvement of the CEA into this chinese and french space mission

2014 has been a fruitful year for SVOM (Space-based multiband astronomical Variable Objects Monitor), a chinese and french space mission dedicated to the study of gamma-ray bursts. The decisions taken at the highest level, the governments in March and the respective space agencies in August, restart the project after a frozen period. As a direct result, two important meetings of the consortium (kick-off meeting) took place in September, one at CNES in Toulouse and the other at Shanghai.

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Jan 01, 2010

Ariane wire for satellites

SpacewireCEA: new computer software for transferring images from space

The Space Electronics Laboratory (LEDES) of the (CEA-IRFU) Astrophysics Division has recently signed a partnership agreement with the industrial company Skylab Industries to manufacture and distribute space equipment including the computer software known as "SpacewireCEA" which was initially developed at the CEA for the PACS infrared camera on the Herschel satellite. This software, which is integrated into the on-board electronics, is able to transfer observational data at a high rate from the space instruments.

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Division of Electronics, Detectors and Computing for Physics (DEDIP)

Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe