Progress on SVOM Satellite Development

SVOM (Space-based multi-band Variable Object Monitor) is a Chinese-French space mission mainly designed to study Gamma-Ray Bursts. The satellite has four instruments to detect and localize the prompt GRB emission and measure the evolution of the afterglow in the visible band and in soft X-rays, and a VHF communication system enabling the fast transmission of SVOM alerts to the ground. The ground segment includes an array of wide-angle cameras and two follow-up telescopes. It was launched into an orbit of ~635 km on 22 June 2024, with three years of nominal operations and two years extension. After the first two years in orbit, SVOM has detected 318 gamma-ray bursts, including 270 detected by GRM and 107 detected and localized by ECLAIRs, and is revealing a population of X-ray–rich bursts that had been only partially uncovered in the early 2000s by previous missions. GRB 250314A, detected by SVOM, is a burst from the early Universe with a redshift of approximately 7.3, which currently ranks as the third most distant gamma-ray burst ever spectroscopically confirmed.