Banned From NASA Collaboration, China Launches Satellite With France To "Unravel Universe Mysteries"

[George4]

Banned From NASA Collaboration, China Launches Satellite With France To "Unravel Universe Mysteries" A French-Chinese satellite blasted off Saturday on a hunt for the mightiest explosions in the universe, in a notable example of cooperation between a Western power and the Asian giant.Developed by engineers from both countries, the Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) will seek out gamma-ray bursts, the light from which has travelled billions of light years to reach Earth.The 930-kilogram satellite carrying four instruments -- two French, two Chinese -- took off around 3:00 pm (07:00 GMT) aboard a Chinese Long March 2-C rocket from a space base in Xichang, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, AFP journalists witnessed.