At the end of the Svom mission review, held in Beijing during the week of 20 January, the review group proposed moving on to the scientific exploitation phase. Exploitation is due to start in April 2025, but the notices issued by Svom (warning messages for telescopes automatically tracking candidate bursts) will be distributed to the entire world community from February onwards.
The group of Franco-Chinese scientists at the National Space Science Center (NSSC) in Beijing
Credit: NSSC
Since its launch six months ago, Svom has detected 78 gamma-ray bursts, and 472 GCN (General Coordinates Network) circulars referring to Svom have been published (following detection by Svom or ground-based monitoring by other missions/instruments), as well as 16 ATel (Astronomer’s Telegram) corresponding to detections of X-ray flares from known galactic sources.
Svom control room in the NSSC
Credit: NSSC
SVOM mission website: www.svom.eu