Smile deploys its solar panels (artist impression)

This is a still from a cinematic animation. Click here to view the animation in full.

The joint European-Chinese Smile mission will launch this spring from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, on a Vega-C rocket.

Smile will separate from the launcher 57 minutes after launch. Around 5–10 minutes later, Smile will deploy its solar arrays, stretching them out ready to collect the sunlight necessary to power its onboard systems and science instruments.

Using X-ray and ultraviolet cameras, as well as particle and magnetic field detectors, Smile will give humankind its first complete look at how Earth reacts to streams and bursts of particles and radiation from the Sun.

By improving our understanding of the solar wind, solar storms and space weather, Smile will fill a stark gap in our understanding of the Solar System and help keep our technology and astronauts safe in the future.

Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

[Image description: A shiny, golden spacecraft at the centre of the frame stretches out its two solar panels towards the top and bottom. The panels are not quite fully stretched, with two slight bends in each. In the background, we see Earth, with the horizon curving from left to right across the top third of the frame.]