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Europe and China to Launch SMILE Tuesday to Capture X‑Ray Views of Earth’s Magnetosphere

The joint mission seeks a global picture of solar wind impacts to strengthen space‑weather science and forecasting.

The SMILE spacecraft turns toward Earth's magnetic shield as the solar wind streams in from the Sun (left), in this artist's impression. Once on orbit, the joint ESA-Chinese Academy of Sciences mission will use its X-ray and ultraviolet cameras to produce the first global view of how the Sun shapes the magnetosphere and triggers the auroras. Credit: ESA
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Overview

  • SMILE is scheduled to lift off Tuesday, May 19, on a Vega‑C rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, after an April delay.
  • The spacecraft will make the first X‑ray images of Earth’s magnetic shield to pinpoint when and where the solar wind hits it.
  • The payload combines a UK‑built Soft X‑ray Imager with a Chinese ultraviolet camera, an ion analyzer, and a magnetometer.
  • The mission will fly a highly elliptical orbit that tops out near 121,000 kilometers over the north, enabling up to 45 hours of continuous aurora viewing.
  • Science operations are expected to start about an hour after orbit insertion, with data routed to the Bernardo O’Higgins ground station in Antarctica.