Historic China–Europe joint satellite mission SMILE launched successfully

Kourou (ANTARA) - The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), a joint mission satellite between the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the European Space Agency (ESA), was successfully launched on Tuesday (19 May) using a Vega-C rocket from the European Spaceport in French Guiana.

After the launch, the satellite has been confirmed to have entered its planned orbit, with the solar panels successfully deployed and the systems operating normally, marking a major milestone for the historic China–Europe collaboration in space science.

SMILE marks the first mission-level project between China and ESA in space exploration.

The satellite will use soft X-ray imaging technology to provide a global view of the large-scale structure of Earth’s magnetosphere for the first time.

The mission is expected to yield a series of scientific breakthroughs across various fields, including space weather forecasting and fundamental understanding of magnetosphere physics.