The SMILE spacecraft has launched on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, marking the start of a joint mission to study space weather and Earth’s magnetic environment.
Liftoff took place at 04:52 BST on May 19, 2026. The first signal from the spacecraft was received by the European Space Agency’s New Norcia ground station in Australia at 06:49 CEST, followed by successful deployment of its solar panels one minute later.
SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The mission aims to improve understanding of how Earth responds to solar wind, solar storms and geomagnetic activity.
The spacecraft will use an x-ray camera to capture the first x-ray observations of Earth’s magnetosphere, alongside an ultraviolet imager capable of observing auroras continuously for up to 45 hours. By combining these datasets, scientists aim to track how solar activity interacts with Earth’s magnetic shield in near real time.
“We are about to witness something we’ve never seen before – Earth’s invisible armor in action,” said ESA director general Josef Aschbacher. “With SMILE, we are pushing the boundaries of science in an effort to answer big questions that have remained a mystery since we discovered, over 70 years ago, that Earth sits safely within a giant magnetic bubble.
“ESA and China have a long-standing record of cooperation spanning 25 years, from early data-sharing arrangements in the 1990s to the co-developed SMILE mission. This mission stands as a testament to ESA’s commitment to international collaboration, advancing scientific knowledge and promoting the peaceful use of space.”
The mission will build on previous ESA programs, including Cluster and XMM-Newton, applying established technologies in new ways to study Earth’s magnetic environment.
SMILE will operate in an extremely elliptical orbit, reaching up to 121,000km above the North Pole before descending to around 5,000km above the South Pole to transmit data. The data collection will begin in earnest in July, after the team has unfolded booms, opened camera covers and confirmed that everything works as expected.
“The evidence that Smile collects will help us better understand planet Earth and our Solar System as a whole,” said ESA Smile project scientist Philippe Escoubet. “And the science it uncovers will improve our models of Earth’s magnetic environment, which could ultimately help keep our astronauts and space technologies safe for decades to come.”
The mission includes contributions from across Europe, with Airbus Defence and Space in Spain responsible for the payload module and the University of Leicester leading development of the x-ray camera. In total, more than 40 companies and institutes have been involved in the project.
ESA says the data gathered by SMILE could support improved space weather forecasting and help protect satellites, astronauts and other space-based technologies.
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