The Chinese-French SVOM mission for GRBs studies
  We present the SVOM (Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects
Monitor) mission that the Chinese National Space Agency and the French Space
Agency have decided to jointly implement. SVOM has been designed to detect all
known types of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), to provide fast and reliable GRB
positions, to measure the broadband spectral shape and temporal properties of
the GRB prompt emission, and to quickly identify the optical/near-infrared
afterglows of detected GRBs, including high-redshift ones. Scheduled to be in
orbit in the second half of the present decade, the SVOM satellite will carry a
very innovative scientific payload combining for the first time a wide field X-
and gamma-ray coded mask imager for GRB real-time localizations to few arcmin,
a non-imaging gamma-ray monitor, and two narrow-field instruments for the study
of the GRB early afterglow emission in the X-ray and visible bands. The SVOM
payload is complemented by ground-based instruments including a wide-field
camera to catch the GRB prompt emission in the visible band and two robotic
telescopes to measure the photometric properties of the early afterglow. A
particular attention is paid to the GRB follow-up in facilitating the
observation of the SVOM detected GRB by the largest ground based telescopes.
