Vega-C is a four-stage rocket in which each stage consumes its propellant and separates sequentially to propel Smile away from Earth’s surface.
The Vega-C fourth stage (upper stage) provides precision propulsion to place Smile into low Earth orbit.
Smile will undergo final launch preparations at the Guiana Space Centre ahead of a Vega-C launch scheduled between 8 April and 7 May.
Smile will undergo a full check for travel-related damage and will be loaded with 1500 kg of propellant before mating with its launch vehicle.
From low Earth orbit, Smile will use its own propulsion to reach its operational highly elliptical orbit that rises to 121,000 km over the North Pole and then descends to 5,000 km over the South Pole to downlink data to ground stations.
The cargo ship Maritime Nantaise Colibri that transported Smile docked in Kourou and its containers carrying the spacecraft and equipment were unloaded and trucked to the spaceport.
The P120C, Zefiro-40, and Zefiro-9 stages use solid propellant and provide most of the thrust needed to launch the 2300 kg Smile spacecraft.
Smile will carry four scientific instruments to study how Earth responds to the solar wind, improving understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and space weather science.
ESA is contributing to the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) instrument and to mission operations once Smile is in orbit.
The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (Smile) spacecraft arrived at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana after a two-week voyage from the Netherlands.
ESA is providing the Smile payload module that carries three of the four scientific instruments, the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument, the launcher, and Assembly, Integration and Test facilities and services.
Data collected by the Smile satellite will contribute to understanding physical mechanisms that govern interactions between the Sun and Earth relevant to space weather.
Smile carries scientific instruments specifically designed to observe the region of interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field.
Pre-launch activities for Smile at the Guiana Space Centre include final environmental tests, integration with the launch system, and subsystem validation procedures.
On 9 March 2026 the Smile satellite was transferred to the launch site managed by the European Space Agency at the Guiana Space Centre.
The Smile spacecraft arrived at the Guiana Space Centre (Europe Spaceport) in French Guiana.
The SMILE spacecraft has arrived at the European Spaceport in French Guiana.
European Space Agency’s Smile spacecraft arrived at Europe Spaceport in French Guiana on March 9, 2026.
Inspector Smile traveled to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana with the Vega-C upper stage onboard.
The Vega-C upper stage will remain attached to Inspector Smile until the final moment before releasing it into a precise orbit.