The Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a French-Chinese mission that was launched on 22nd June 2024 into low Earth orbit.
This spacecraft, designed to rapidly slew to observe transients, has four instruments:
- ECLAIRs with a 2 sr field of view sensitive in the 4-120 keV band and sensitive down to ~1 x 10⁻¹¹ erg cm⁻² s⁻¹ and a temporal resolution of 20 microseconds. It has a field of view of 89° x 89° and localises sources to better than 13’.
- The Gamma-Ray burst Monitor (GRM), with a 3.4 sr FoV, sensitive in the 15 keV−5 MeV band with an angular resolution of ~5◦ has a temporal resolution of <20 microseconds.
- The Micro-channel X-Ray Telescope (MXT), has a 1.1 × 1.1 ° FoV, sensitive in the 0.3-10 keV range with angular resolution of 10’, an energy resolution of ∼75 eV at 1.5 keV and a detection sensitivity of 10−12 erg cm−2 s−1 in 10 ksec.
- Finally the Visible Telescope (VT) with a 26’ × 26’ FoV, and two filters, 450-650 nm and 650-1000 nm (magnitude 22.5 in 300 s).
There is also a network of ground-based telescopes for follow-up. For more information see https://www.svom.eu/