We present the Microchannel X-ray Telescope, a new light and compact focussing telescope that will be flying on the Sino-French SVOM mission dedicated to Gamma-Ray Burst science. The MXT design is based on the coupling of square pore micro-channel pl
ates with a low noise pnCCD. MXT will provide an effective area of about 50 cmsq, and its point spread function is expected to be better than 3.7 arc min (FWHM) on axis. The estimated sensitivity is adequate to detect all the afterglows of the SVOM GRBs, and to localize them to better then 60 arc sec after five minutes of observation.
The X and Gamma-ray telescope ECLAIRs is foreseen to be launched on a low Earth orbit (h=630 km, i=30 degrees) aboard the SVOM satellite (Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor), a French-Chinese mission with Italian contributio
n. Observations are expected to start in 2013. It has been designed to detect and localize Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) or persistent sources of the sky, thanks to its wide field of view (about 2 sr) and its remarkable sensitivity in the 4-250 keV energy range, with enhanced imaging sensitivity in the 4-70 keV energy band. These characteristics are well suited to detect highly redshifted GRBs, and consequently to provide fast and accurate triggers to other onboard or ground-based instruments able to follow-up the detected events in a very short time from the optical wavelength bands up to the few MeV Gamma-Ray domain.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) sign energetic explosions in the Universe, occurring at cosmological distances. Multi-wavelength observations of GRB allow to study their properties and to use them as cosmological tools. In 2012 the space borne gamma-ray teles
cope ECLAIRs is expected to provide accurate GRB localizations on the sky in near real-time, necessary for ground-based follow-up observations. Led by CEA Saclay, France, the project is currently in its technical design phase. ECLAIRs is optimized to detect highly red-shifted GRB thanks to a 4 keV low energy threshold. A coded mask telescope with a 1024 cm^2 detection plane of 80x80 CdTe pixels permanently observes a 2 sr sky field. The on-board trigger detects GRB using count-rate increase monitors on multiple time-scales and cyclic images. It computes sky images in the 4-50 keV energy range by de-convolving detector plane images with the mask pattern and localizes newly detected sources with <10 arcmin accuracy. While individual GRB photons are available hours later, GRB alerts are transmitted over a VHF network within seconds to ground, in particular to robotic follow-up telescopes, which refine GRB localizations to the level needed by large spectroscopic telescopes. This paper describes the ECLAIRs concept, with emphasis on the GRB triggering scheme.
