(Yicai) June 24 -- The first astronomical satellite co-developed by China and France was successfully launched after nearly 20 years of joint efforts between the two countries.

The Space Variable Objects Monitor satellite was launched on June 22 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China’s southwestern Sichuan province, according to the China National Space Administration. After completing on-orbit tests, the SVOM will carry out its first mission in August.

The 930-kilogram satellite has the world’s best comprehensive observation capabilities to study multi-band gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful and violent explosions in the universe since the Big Bang. It can quickly communicate with Earth, as it is equipped with China’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System’s short message function and France’s very high-frequency communication system.

Gamma-ray bursts are a tool to observe the early universe, and the SVOM may be the only satellite in the world able to observe gamma-ray bursts of the first stars, Bertrand Cordier, SVOM’s French chief scientist, told Yicai.

The satellite is expected to observe gamma-ray bursts about 70 times a year, Cordier noted, adding that even though the gamma-ray bursts observed may not be from the early stage of the universe, they could still be of great significance.

The SVOM is expected to discover some special, rare, and new gamma-ray bursts, said Wei Jianyan, the satellite’s Chinese chief scientist. The SVOM may also help scientists find out the sources of some super-heavy metal elements on Earth, such as gold, silver, and copper, he added.

The SVOM program was initiated in 2006, François Gonzalez, SVOM’s French project manager, told Yicai. The launch of the satellite marks the beginning of a new chapter for the two countries’ space partnership, Gonzalez noted.

The SVOM program is remarkable, as it not only allows scientists to know more about the death of stars but also to collects data to enable humans to test the laws of physics using phenomena that cannot be reproduced in laboratories, said Frederic Daigne, an astrophysicist at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics.

Editor: Futura Costaglione