Smile's scientific legacy

Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It will give humankind its first complete look at how Earth reacts to streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun.

Smile is possible thanks to the scientific and technological advances made in the past 40 years in the realms of X-ray telescopes, magnetosphere monitoring missions and Sun watching spacecraft. What's more, it will pave the wave for future space weather research.

Discover more about how Smile builds on previous ESA missions Cluster and XMM-Newton here.

Follow the mission at esa.int/smile

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: Three paths coming from the left of the infographic labelled 'X-ray telescopes', 'Magnetosphere monitors' and 'Sun watchers' merge together when they reach the Smile mission, of which there is a large artist impression towards the right of the infographic. Travelling right from the Smile graphic are future missions and research marked in a lighter grey.]