The Vega-C rocket will launch ESA’s SMILE satellite.
SMILE’s scientific objectives include improving understanding and prediction of space weather effects that can impact satellites, communications systems, and electrical power grids on Earth.
SMILE left the technical facilities at ESA’s ESTEC on 11 February to begin transfer to the Guiana Space Centre (European Spaceport) in French Guiana for launch on a Vega-C rocket.
SMILE stands for Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer.
Spacecraft development for SMILE in China wrapped toward the end of 2024.
The SMILE spacecraft has a mass of 2,300 kilograms.
The Magnetometer on SMILE is a joint venture between the Chinese National Space Science Centre, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Twelve containers aboard the Colibri carry the SMILE spacecraft and the ground support equipment needed for final launch preparations.
Once the Colibri docks at Pariacabo in Kourou, the SMILE spacecraft will be transferred to European Spaceport facilities for final launch preparations.
The SMILE launch window extends from 8 April to 7 May.
SMILE underwent extensive testing in the Netherlands through 2025.
The Colibri made a technical stop at the port of Saint-Nazaire two days after departing Amsterdam to embark the Vega-C upper stage destined to launch SMILE.
The SMILE spacecraft is traveling inside a specially conditioned container maintained at overpressure and regularly purged with dry nitrogen.
Final launch preparations for SMILE at the European Spaceport will include unpacking, a new battery of tests, refueling of the spacecraft, and integration with the Vega-C upper stage.
From Saint-Nazaire onward, the SMILE spacecraft and the Vega-C upper stage will travel together for the remainder of the ground and space portions of the mission.
Three of SMILE’s four scientific instruments are attached to the European-made payload module and one instrument remains on the Chinese service module.
The Atlantic transit of SMILE aboard MN Colibri is expected to take just over two weeks, with arrival no earlier than February 25.
SMILE’s service module will propel the spacecraft from its initial orbit into a 121,000-kilometer science orbit to monitor solar winds and study space weather.
The mission team continuously monitors temperature, pressure, and humidity inside SMILE’s transport container throughout the voyage.
SMILE carries X-ray and ultraviolet cameras, particle detectors, and magnetic field sensors to study the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere.