SMILE will execute maneuvers over the next month to transition into a highly inclined, highly elliptical polar orbit.
SMILE is designed for at least a three-year mission.
SMILE is currently in a 700-kilometer, 70-degree Earth orbit.
Avio launched the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) for the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences from the European Spaceport in French Guiana using a Vega C launcher.
SMILE is a joint scientific mission launched in 2015 by the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
AVUM+ performed two ignitions at 20 minutes and 53 minutes after liftoff to place SMILE into its initial orbit.
Teledyne Space Imaging manufactured, tested, and qualified the CCD370 imaging sensors used in SMILE’s Soft X-ray Imager.
Smile will study solar storms and geomagnetic storms by observing the magnetosphere and auroras with X-ray and ultraviolet instruments.
SMILE’s ultraviolet imager will track global structural changes of the northern auroras.
The Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was tasked with producing the China-made spacecraft platform components for SMILE.
Smile separated from Vega-C 56 minutes after launch.
SMILE will measure interactions between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere.
The Vega C flight carrying SMILE lasted 57 minutes from liftoff to satellite separation.
Smile deployed its solar panels at 06:49 CEST on 19 May 2026.
The University of Leicester developed and built Smile’s X-ray camera in the United Kingdom in collaboration with Mullard Space Science Laboratory, the Open University, and other European institutions.
SMILE’s in-situ plasma analyzer and magnetometer will measure the velocity, density, and magnetic properties of the incoming solar wind.
The mission control center received the first telemetry signal from Smile after separation.
SMILE is a joint scientific mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences that was established in 2015.
Smile deployed its solar panels one hour and three minutes after launch.
SMILE will support space weather forecasting and predictions after sufficient data is gathered.