Scenario design and preliminary verification of SVOM operational test

Abstract

The SVOM (space-based multiband astronomical variable objects monitor) is a Chinese-French space project dedicated to the detection, localization and study of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and other high-energy transient phenomena. The SVOM mission requires rapid response capability and usual time-tagged scheduling is not adequate. The satellite requires sufficient autonomy to change and resume its active program without any rescheduling commands from the ground. If a target signal is strong enough, the satellite will autonomously perform a slew to point the GRB target then observe through x-ray and visible telescopes. In addition, SVOM will also carry out general program (GP) and several kinds of target of opportunity (ToO) programs. Programs with different priorities will be managed on-board. During the operational test to simulate the satellite on-board working scenario on ground, one main challenge is to verify the satellite could correctly manage and execute observations according to priority. To ensure the satellite is “smart” enough for autonomous observations, the SVOM mission program is defined with stringent priority requirements and different observation periods, observation program with higher priority can interrupt lower priority observation. The test scenario is designed including four level priorities and five kinds of observation program nested, checking the execution of interruption, rejection, and postponement for different observations, and also verifying the functionality of observation management. This paper introduces the scenario design and preliminary verification of SVOM operational test, describes the scenario, test configuration and results.