SMILE
SMILE — the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, a joint mission of the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, launched on a Vega-C from Kourou on 19 May 2026. From a highly elliptical orbit reaching about 121,000 km over the pole — nearly a third of the way to the Moon — SMILE is the first spacecraft built to image Earth's magnetosphere in X-rays. Its lobster-eye Soft X-ray Imager maps the shifting boundary where the solar wind meets Earth's magnetic shield, an ultraviolet imager watches the northern aurora, and two in-situ instruments sample the solar-wind ions and magnetic field directly — capturing the whole chain of a space-weather storm at once. Its three-year mission aims to reveal how solar activity drives the aurora and geomagnetic storms; science operations are expected to begin in September 2026.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- ESA / CAS
- Launched
- May 19, 2026
- Status
- Active
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 1.01 AU
- Distance from Earth
- 387,570 km
- Distance from Venus
- 0.646 AU
Mission
SMILE was built to photograph something no one has ever seen directly: the invisible shield that protects our planet. Earth's magnetosphere — the magnetic bubble that deflects the solar wind — is normally studied one point at a time, by spacecraft flying through it. SMILE, the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, does something new. It carries a lobster-eye X-ray telescope that catches the faint X-rays given off where solar-wind particles slam into the edge of the magnetosphere, letting it image the whole boundary at once and watch it heave in and out as a solar storm arrives. It is a genuinely shared mission: the European Space Agency built much of the payload and provided the Vega-C launcher, while the Chinese Academy of Sciences built the spacecraft and operates it — their first jointly selected science mission since Double Star two decades ago. SMILE lifted off from Kourou in French Guiana on 19 May 2026 and climbed into a steep, stretched orbit that carries it about 121,000 kilometres over the pole, nearly a third of the way to the Moon, so it can stare at the magnetosphere for up to forty hours at a stretch. Alongside the X-ray imager, an ultraviolet camera watches the northern aurora while two instruments taste the solar wind and measure the magnetic field on the spot — the cause and the effect captured together. Over three years SMILE aims to explain how solar activity lights up the aurora and drives the geomagnetic storms that disturb satellites, power grids and navigation on the ground.
- 2015Selected by ESA and CASMilestone
Chosen from a joint ESA–Chinese Academy of Sciences call — their first jointly selected science mission since Double Star.
- 2026Launch on a Vega-CLaunch
Lifts off from Kourou, French Guiana; first signal is received and the solar panels deploy, marking the launch a success.
- 2026Climb to the operational orbitMilestone
Raises its orbit through a series of engine burns into a highly elliptical, steeply inclined path reaching ~121,000 km over the pole.
- 2026Science operations expected to beginMilestone
After commissioning, SMILE is expected to start imaging Earth's magnetosphere in X-rays — a first — on a three-year mission.
Images
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