Organization

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in November 2006 by both space agencies Presidents’ (CNES/CNSA) during an officiala state visit of the French President to China. An amended new MoU setting out a revised sharing of responsibilities was signed in August 2014 during the visit of CNES's President to Beijing. This document serves as the baseline for CNES's involvement in SVOM, a joint project of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) and CNES. The respective responsibilities are as follow:

• The mission, launch, satellite and operations are under Chinese responsibility, while the instruments and ground segments are shared between China and France.
   
• The system, satellite and payload definition studies are based on technical cooperation between CNES and SECM (Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites) teams, each entity working on the elements under its own responsibility.
   
• More precisely, CNES is prime contractor for development of the French payloads (ECLAIRs, MXT), for the alert system (VHF ground network) and for the French elements of the ground segment (payload monitoring centre, scientific expertise centres).

The main Chinese contributors are:

• China National Space Administration (CNSA), mission lead

• Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), project technical lead on behalf of CNSA, through the following institutions:
• Shanghai Engineering Centre for Microsatellites (SECM), satellite and payload module lead and the main technical interface for CNES
• laboratories involved in the science programme and in instrument development:
• National Astronomical Observatory of China (NAOC), mission science lead with responsibility for development of the GFT (Ground Follow-up Telescope) and GWAC (Ground Wide Angle Camera) ground instrument
• Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) for the GRM (Gamma Ray Monitor) instrument
• and Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics (XIOPM) for the VT (Visible Telescope) instrument.
  
  
• Laboratories involved in development of the ground segment:
• National Astronomical Observatory of China (NAOC) for the Chinese Ground Observation System (CGOS, including the C-GFT and GWAC instruments) and the Chinese Science Center
• National Space Science Center (NSSC) for the mission centre and data centre
• Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI) for the X-band station
  
  
• China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control (CLTC), responsible for the satellite control ground segment (control centre, S-band stations) and related flight operations
  
  
• China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CASC-CALT), responsible for launch (LM2C launcher and Xichang XSLC launch site)

The main French scientific laboratories are:

• CEA/IRFU (research institute into the fundamental laws of the UniverseInstitut de Recherche sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers) as mission science lead, principal investigator for the MXT instrument and through its contribution to the development of the ECLAIRs and MXT instruments and as the prime contractor for the development of the scientific expertise centre dedicated to alert management, and generation, distribution and archiving of the science products, and monitoring of the MXT instrument.
  
  
• IRAP astrophysics and planetology research institute (Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie) as PI for the ECLAIRs instrument and for its contribution to development of DPIX (ECLAIRs instrument detection plane), and as prime contractor for the development of the infrared camera (CAGIRE) and for its participation in developing the ECLAIRs expertise centre.
  
  
• LAM astrophysics laboratory in Marseille (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille)  as mission science co-lead and for its participation in the development of the MXT instrument and in the follow-up programme of observations with ground telescopes, the development of analysis tools and the generation of science products.
  
  
•  APC astroparticles and cosmology laboratory (laboratoire AstroParticules et Cosmologie) as science lead for the General Programme (outside gamma-ray burst science) and for its participation in developing the ECLAIRs instrument.
  
  
•  IAP astrophysics institute in Paris (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris) for its participation in developing the scientific expertise centres and more particularly to the generation of science products.

The CPPM particle physics laboratory in Marseille(Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille), Strasbourg Observatory, the LUPM universe and particles laboratory in Montpellier(Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier), the GEPI galaxies, stars, physics and instrumentation department, (laboratoire Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique et Instrumentation) and the LAL linear accelerator laboratory (Laboratoire de l’Accélérateur Linéaire) and the Irène Joliot-Curie laboratory of the physics of the two infinities (IJCLab) are also contribute contributing to the mission preparation.

These laboratories' representatives also sit on the SVOM scientific committee responsible for implementing the mission's scientific programme in conjunction with their Chinese counterparts.