The ECLAIRs micro-satellite mission for gamma-ray burst multi-wavelength observations

摘要

Gamma--ray bursts (GRB)-at least those with a duration longer than a few seconds-are the most energetic events in the Universe and occur at cosmological distances. The ECLAIRs micro-satellite, to be launched in 2009, will provide multi-wavelength observations of GRB, to study their astrophysics and to use them as cosmological probes. Furthermore, in 2009 ECLAIRs is expected to be the only space-borne instrument capable of providing a GRB trigger in near real-time with sufficient localization accuracy for GRB follow-up observations with the powerful ground-based spectroscopic telescopes available by then.