Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) Mission

Mission patch Smile Patch

Launch Countdown

Date & Time

19 May, 3:52am

Location

Guiana Space Centre Launch Site

Guiana Space Centre

Pad

Ariane Launch Area 1

Launch Service Provider

Avio S.p.A logo

Avio S.p.A

Vehicle

Vega-C image

Vega-C

Mission

Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)

Mission Type

Astrophysics

Destination

Elliptical Orbit

Joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to investigate the interaction between Earth’s protective shield – the magnetosphere – and the supersonic solar wind.

Available Lives

European Space Agency, ESA

ESA's Smile mission launch

Last Update: Rescheduled for May 19.

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