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

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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.