Europe-China SMILE Solar Science Mission Launch in South America
The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) launched on Vega-C flight VV29. At 35 meters (115 feet) tall, a Vega-C weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad and the rocket used three solid-propellant-powered stages to take SMILE to orbit before the fourth liquid-propellant stage took over for a precise drop-off around Earth. SMILE is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
SMILE will use four science instruments to study how Earth responds to the solar wind from the Sun. In doing so, SMILE will improve our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms and the science of space weather.
The Vega-C program is led by the European Space Agency (ESA), working with Avio as prime contractor and design authority.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is responsible for providing SMILE’s payload module (carrying three of the four science instruments), one of the spacecraft’s four science instruments (the soft X-ray imager, SXI), the launcher, and the Assembly Integration and Testing facilities and services. ESA contributes to a second science instrument (the ultraviolet imager, UVI) and the mission operations once SMILE is in orbit.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences provides the other three science instruments and the spacecraft platform, and is responsible for operating the spacecraft in orbit.
Duration: 4 minutes
Release Date: May 19, 2026
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