China and France launch satellite to better understand the universe in SVOM space mission

Now for some space news here on the program. NASA has postponed the return to Earth of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. It ferried 2 astronauts to the International Space Station on June the 5th in Boeing's first crude space mission. But they're stuck there until NASA is happy that all technical issues are resolved, with no date set for the crew's six hour trip home. On the way there, Starliner suffered 5 helium leaks and five of its 28 manoeuvring thrusters failed. And within an hour, a satellite developed by the French and Chinese space agencies is set to blast off in central China with a mission to search for the biggest explosions in the universe, Gamma ray bursts. The Space Variable Objects Monitor or Swarm will study these cosmic blasts, the brightest and most powerful in the universe, to learn more about how stars meet their end and how the universe was formed. For more, I can talk to Olivier Joel Amal, head of space science at France's National Space Agency. Thanks for joining France 24. Hello, good morning. So you've worked very closely on this project. What is your emotions you're feeling ahead of this launch? Well, it's a very special launch for me because I joined this team and the, the 4th I am currently occupying when the, the, the, the, the mission starts starting in fact, more than 15 years ago. So I followed it from the beginning up to, to the end. I hope it's not the end. So it's a very, very, very special emotion. And it was a big, big cooperation and big, big project for us with many, many engineers this and also in the, in the French laboratories. So it's really long-awaited by many, many people. Now, it's not the only way we can detect gamma ray bursts. In fact, they were first discovered in the 60s. So what's special about spawn? Well, there were, there were several slides previously detect gamma ray bursts, but they were not specifically intended to to detect and follow and and study the gamma ray bursts. So this one, this one learned from from these previous previous missions and it was designed to with a special instrument set on board and also the special BHF link to to the ground permanent link to be able to launch alerts very soon. Because this this gamma reverse are very fugitive, you know, very short and they must be followed on by over all the telescopes very, very fast and really been designed for years and years to be specifically very, very fast to launch the alert and also to move and to point its own instruments to follow the the Gangnam rapists. Now this project between France and China on space is fairly unusual, especially since the United States banned collaboration between its NASA and Beijing 13 years ago. So perhaps you could take us back to the start of this project. What brought about this partnership? Well, there there was a rising in the the EUR 2000 of the the intention of the the Chinese Academy of Science to to build science satellite. So it was the beginning as one was the first big project of science in China and they were very successful from then on to building science satellites. But this one was, was the first big projects and it happened that at that time we also had in France wish to do this science, but we were, we were awaiting partners because it's the big satellite. We could not build it on our own. We didn't have enough funds in France. So it was the match of the right time and the right place. That's how it began. And just take us back on these big explosions. What it's all about these gamma ray bursts. Why do we need to learn more about gamma ray bursts? Well, the gamma ray bursts on themselves are very poorly known. Their mechanisms are suspected to be perhaps of, of massive stars or, or fusion of neutron stars. But 1st it's, it's a guess. So we have to, to confirm that it's very, very specific, very specific events. Now we're using the billions of billions times the energy of the, the, the solar, the sun in less than one second. So it's very, very creepy, I would say. But the second point is also that they are so powerful then we can we can witness gamma reverse coming from the edge of times from the very, very beginning of of the universe. The first task when they died and the light coming through the ages. So through the universe reaches has been meeting all this the elements that that the universe is is made of now. So in the light coming from the from the gamma ray, but there will be some, some imprints from from the, the different elements the the light has been crossing to reach us. So this is very it's, it's just as just as you, you are in a, in a space where there are dust and and and and fog and so on. And then there is a very powerful light which is lit up at the other or the, or the edge of the room, I would say. So you you can see all this, this fog. It's just in between. Just finally for our viewers, then it's very soon it will be blasting off. Are you a little bit trepidatious? Are you on the edge of your seat? How are your team mates feeling? Yes, yes, the space is very complex and launchers are very complex. It's you just mentioned you previously the difficulties for the Starliner result to come back. It's it's never 100% even if China and France and all the countries that have been launching hundreds and thousands of rockets for years, it is never done till the satellite is separated on on its orbit. So yes, there is a little bit of tension. All right, Olivier, Joel, Amal, good luck with the launch. Thanks for talking to France 24. Thank you.