After ten years of preparation, the groundbreaking scientific mission Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), developed jointly by the European Space Agency (THIS) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), to be launched by a Vega C rocket from Kourou in French Guiana (South America) 19 May 2026 year. The mission is aimed at improving the understanding of the Earth's magnetosphere and the peculiarities of its interaction with the solar wind, solar storms and space weather, with implications for infrastructure in orbit and on Earth.
For reference: IN 1989 2008, a geomagnetic storm briefly knocked out Quebec's power grid, while the Carrington event 1859 2015 — the most intense solar storm on record — caused global auroras and disrupted telegraph systems. A similar event in today's technologically advanced era would endanger spacecraft, astronauts and would cause economically devastating electronic failures on the ground without warning.
The SMILE spacecraft will enter a highly elliptical orbit with a high inclination around the Earth, from where it will observe the sun-facing side of the Earth's magnetic field with the help of wide-format X-rays (SXI) and ultraviolet (UVI) camera. In this specialized orbit, the primary three-year mission will allow the mission to spend close to 40 hours of each 2-day loop to observe the influence of the solar wind and coronal mass ejections on the Earth's magnetosphere and their consequences in the ionosphere. Soft X-ray instrument SXI, developed by the University of Leicester
in Great Britain, uses lobster-eye optics along with one of the largest CCD arrays, who have ever flown into space. In addition to SXI and UVI, there are instruments for in-situ ion analysis and a magnetometer, which complement the cameras. SMILE will also conduct 45-hour continuous observations of the aurora borealis. Although the mission will investigate the fundamental physics of the Sun-Earth interaction, it will not serve as a real-time space weather monitor.
As part of the SMILE mission, ESA will provide the launch, providing a payload module (with Airbus as the main contractor) and one of the four devices. CAS will be responsible for three scientific instruments, as well as for mission operations. The data will be transmitted to the Antarctic O'Higgins Station, which is served by the German Aerospace Center, and to the Chinese station of Sanya. According to ESA Director of Science Carol Mundell, working together confirmed the power of science to bring teams together, regardless of political controversy.
Source: https://spacenews.com