Smile will use an X-ray camera to make the first observations of Earth's magnetosphere in that wavelength band.
Smile is scheduled to launch on Tuesday 19 May at 05:52 Spanish peninsular time, which is five hours earlier than local time in French Guiana.
ESA confirmed a new launch date for the Smile satellite after a technical issue in the production line for a Vega-C subsystem component forced a cautious delay on 9 April.
During March, Smile was fueled, integrated with the Vega-C adapter, and enclosed inside the launcher fairing.
Smile is scheduled to launch from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.
Smile’s maximum altitude is nearly one third of the distance from Earth to the Moon.
Smile is a joint mission of the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Smile’s orbit will carry it up to 121,000 kilometers above Earth over the North Pole.
Smile, also called the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, will study the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic shield, magnetic anomalies on Earth’s nightside, and methods for predicting severe space-weather threats.
Avio is developing the Vega-C rocket that will carry Smile.
Smile’s launch, planned for the morning of April 9, was postponed because of a technical fault.
Smile will use ultraviolet and X-ray cameras to image Earth’s magnetosphere.
Avio will not announce an updated SMILE launch date until additional investigations on the technical issue are complete.
Avio postponed the launch of the Smile satellite on VV29 because of a technical issue on a subsystem component production line after VV29 launcher integration.
Avio began preparations for the SMILE launch in mid-February by transferring the P120C first stage from the Booster Storage Building to the ZLV launch pad.
The SMILE payload was stacked in the Vega C fairing in early April, marking the last major event before the rocket’s planned 9 May launch.
Technicians fueled SMILE with hydrazine before stacking, bringing the spacecraft to a maximum wet mass of 2,300 kilograms.
SMILE will gradually raise itself into a 121,000-by-5,000-kilometer science orbit after launch.
The European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly developed the SMILE spacecraft.
SMILE carries 1,580 kilograms of hydrazine in four propellant tanks.