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.png) An Artist's view of the SMILE spacecraft. | |
| Mission type | Magnetospheric mission |
|---|---|
| Operator | ESA-CAS |
| COSPAR ID | 2026-109A |
| SATCAT no. | 69123 |
| Mission duration | 3 years |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Airbus |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | late 2025 (planned) |
| Rocket | Vega-C |
| Launch site | Kourou |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Eliptical orbit |
| Periapsis | 5,000km |
| Apoapsis | 121,182 km |
SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Explorer) is a planned mission by the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. SMILE will for the first time take a picture of the Sun's magnetosphere.
The questions that SMILE will answer are:
- What are the versions of the dayside solar wind or the magnetosphere interaction?
- What is the substorm cycle?
- Ho do the coronal mass ejection storms arise and what is their connection to solar substorms?
As of March 2025, SMILE is going to launch in late 2025.
