Smile payload module turns aerial dancer

On 21 January 2025, engineers at ESA’s technical heart (ESTEC) connected the two main parts of the Smile spacecraft, putting it into its final flight configuration.

In the centre of this image we see the spacecraft platform, which contains one of the four science instruments, as well as everything else that the spacecraft needs to function, including the modules responsible for powering, steering and controlling the spacecraft. The platform is covered in a red silky cloth to protect it from falling bolts and other objects that could be dropped when the payload module is lowered on top of the platform.

Coming in from the top right is the payload module, which hosts the other three science instruments. Engineers from Airbus and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are guiding the payload module extremely carefully. Some are up on aerial platforms to monitor and support the positioning and attachment of the two spacecraft parts.

Find out more about the testing and integration of Smile at ESTEC

Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a 50–50 collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

[Image description: Activity in a cleanroom. In the centre is a spacecraft covered in a red cloth. From the top right comes a second part of the spacecraft, ready to be attached to the first part. A man crouches on an aerial platform looking at the place where the two spacecraft will be connected. Other engineers stand around on the ground, watching closely. One of them holds up a wire attached to the second part of the spacecraft.]