Smile will be inserted into an initial orbit of about 700 kilometers altitude by Vega-C.
A Vega-C rocket is scheduled to launch Smile from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on Tuesday, May 19, weather permitting.
Airbus Defence & Space was the prime contractor for Smile’s payload module.
Airbus completed assembly, integration, and test work on Smile’s payload module in a new plant in Madrid.
Smile’s ultraviolet camera will observe auroras over the North Pole.
Smile is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Smile is designed to study how the solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere in real time.
Mission VV29 will launch SMILE, a mission to study the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere.
The ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed Smile cooperation agreements in the 2010s.
Smile (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a mission jointly developed by the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Airbus Crisa developed the Extended Control Unit for the Smile payload module.
Airbus Defence and Space developed the Smile Payload Module.
GTD is responsible for part of Smile’s onboard software.
The Extended Control Unit coordinates the four scientific instruments in the Smile payload module.
Airbus Defence and Space led the European industrial consortium for Smile as ESA’s main industrial partner.
Alter supplied electronic components for Smile, carried out related engineering work, and conducted laboratory test campaigns.
Smile will deploy its solar panels after separation from the launch vehicle.
Smile will study the interaction between solar radiation bursts and Earth's magnetic shield.
Smile will be the first spacecraft to conduct detailed, long-duration X-ray observations of the magnetosphere.
The Smile Payload Module contains the Soft X-ray Imager, the Ultra-Violet Imager, the Light Ion Analyser, and the Magnetometer.