Teledyne Space Imaging Sensors Launch Aboard European Space Agency’s SMILE Mission
The European-Chinese mission will use four instruments to study how the solar wind shapes Earth’s magnetic environment.
- On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, a Vega-C rocket launched the Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer satellite from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, successfully entering its preset orbit.
- The joint mission, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences , aims to investigate the relationship between the Sun and Earth, marking their first jointly implemented mission.
- SMILE will conduct 11 engine burns over 25 days to reach a highly elliptical orbit, peaking 75,185 miles above the North Pole, using four instruments to capture soft X-ray images.
- From its unique vantage point, the mission will "observe the northern lights non-stop for 45 hours at a time for the first time ever," improving understanding of space weather events threatening power grids.
- Designed for a three-year lifetime, the mission seeks to reveal how Earth's magnetic field acts as a shield; ESA director-general Josef Aschbacher stated, "We are about to witness something we've never seen before-- Earth's invisible armour in action.
41 Articles
41 Articles
SMILE spacecraft will use X-ray vision to study the northern lights and more
There’s a SMILE beaming down from high above Earth. On May 19, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) launched a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana with a payload representing years of international collaboration. Known as the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), the spacecraft will soon begin studying the sun’s immensely powerful solar winds and their relationship with…
The University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW is also involved in the ESA mission.
China-Europe SMILE satellite mission launched from French Guiana for solar wind research
The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), a collaborative mission between the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the European Space Agency (ESA), was launched by a Vega-C rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on Tuesday.
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