04/30/2024
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ESA launches the Smile mission into space with Arianespace’s Vega-C rocket.
Smile is a collaboration between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Smile is an abbreviation for “Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer”. The mission aims to help us better understand the interaction between the sun and Earth. The launch is an important European contribution to the mission.
Vega’s inaugural flight in July 2022
With today’s signing ceremony, ESA will ensure that Smile will be launched on a Vega-C from the European Space Base in French Guiana, currently expected at the end of 2025. Vega-C is Europe’s agile rocket designed to launch a wide range of missions. The rocket can carry cargo of different shapes and sizes, giving Europe more independent access to space.
“Today marks an important milestone for our innovative Smile mission and signals the determination of all our teams and partners to deliver a successful mission on schedule for maximum scientific benefit,” said ESA’s director of Science Prof. Carole Mundell.
Stéphane Israel, CEO of Arianespace, added, “This signing marks more than 4 years of joint efforts between Arianespace and ESA Science teams to develop the Smile mission with a Vega-C launch vehicle.”
David Agnolon, Smile project manager, explains why Vega-C has been a great choice for Smile. “We are excited to launch Smile on such a versatile launch vehicle. Vega-C was selected because it perfectly matches the needs of the mission, such as required mass capacity and injection trajectory.”
Artist impression of the Smile mission
Vega-C places Smile in low Earth orbit, from which the spacecraft propels itself to orbit. In this final, egg-shaped orbit, Smile will fly around the Earth approximately every two days. The rocket will travel to about 121,000 km from the Earth’s surface for a long-term view of the Arctic regions, then return to a distance of less than 5,000 km to download the wealth of stored data to ground stations in Antarctica and China.
Such a unique orbit allows scientists to observe key regions of space near Earth for more than 40 hours at a time. Smile takes the first X-ray images and videos of the solar wind colliding with Earth’s protective magnetic bubble. The complementary ultraviolet images will provide the longest continuous view of the Northern Lights.
Smile marks the first time that ESA and China will jointly select, design, implement, launch and operate a space science mission. In addition to launching, ESA is responsible for the Smile payload module (which hosts the scientific instruments), the spacecraft testing facilities, the primary ground station in Antarctica and contributing to the scientific operations.
Complete unfolding of Smile in space (artist’s impression)
“Several technical and programmatic issues have been overcome jointly by ESA and CAS teams through efficient and respectful collaboration.” We all look forward to seeing Smile in orbit in 2025 and collecting scientific data over several years,” said Frédéric Safa, Head of ESA’s Future Missions Division.
In autumn 2024, the European and Chinese parts of the spacecraft will arrive at ESA’s technical centre, ESTEC. There the two parts are joined together and the spacecraft is tested as a complete unit for the first time. The spacecraft will then be shipped from ESTEC to Europe’s space base in French Guiana.
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