Preparing Smile for Space: Final Launch Preparations at Europe's Spaceport (esa.int)

• Final launch preparations completed at Europe's Spaceport
• Launch on Vega-C flight VV29 on 15 May 2026
• Joint ESA-China mission to study solar wind-magnetosphere interaction

"The Smile mission (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) has completed its final launch preparations at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. It will launch on Vega-C flight VV29 on May 15, 2026. Smile is a joint European-Chinese mission to study the interaction between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic environment from a highly elliptical orbit. Over three years, it will fly high above the North Pole every two days, capturing X-ray and ultraviolet images of Earth's magnetic shield and auroras."