N° 14–2026: Media invitation: Smile pre-launch online media briefings
18 March 2026
Media are invited to join online briefings in several languages ahead of the launch of the Smile mission on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Updated 19 March 2026 to add a new participant to the English briefing: Ignasi Pardos Biarnes,Vega Launch System and Engineering Manager, ESA
The Smile mission will be launched within the launch window 8 April – 7 May 2026.
Smile is a scientific collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Its goals include looking at Earth’s magnetic field in X-rays to uncover where and how the solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetic shield.
Interested journalists are kindly requested to register by 17:00 CET on Monday 23 March by choosing the appropriate form at this link: https://blogs.esa.int/forms/esa-media-briefing-form. Only registered media will be able to attend and ask questions.
Briefing schedule: (all times in CET)
Wednesday 25 March
10:30: Briefing in Italian
Participants:
Stefano Bianchi, Head of Flight Programmes, ESA
Massimo Falcolini, Smile Product Assurance Manager, ESA
Domenico Trotta, Internal Research Fellow, ESA
13:30: Briefing in German
Participants:
Walfried Raab, Smile Lead Payload Engineer, ESA
Marcus Kirsch, Smile Ground Segment and Operations Support Manager, ESA
Manfred Steller, Senior engineer for Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
14:30: Briefing in French
Participants:
Toni Tolker-Nielsen, Director of Space Transportation, ESA
Philippe Escoubet, Smile Project Scientist, ESA
Sylvain Vey, Smile Instrument and Operations Engineer, ESA
Dimitra Koutroumpa, Chargée de Recherche CNRS, LATMOS
Thursday 26 March
13:00-14:00: Briefing in Spanish
Participants:
Rocío Guerra, Smile Science Operations Development Manager, ESA
Ignasi Pardos, Vega Launch System and Engineering Manager, ESA
Jaione Martinez Cengotitabengoa, PAZ-2 Programme Manager, and Smile Payload Module Manager, Airbus Defence and Space
Jenny Carter, Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow and Lecturer, Leicester University
14:00: Briefing in English
Participants:
Carole Mundell, Director of Science, ESA
David Agnolon, Smile Project Manager, ESA
Ignasi Pardos Biarnes, Vega Launch System and Engineering Manager, ESA
Colin Forsyth, Associate Professor in the Space Plasma Physics Group at the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory
Jing Li, Smile Project Manager, CAS
Raquel González Sola, Head of Airbus Space Systems in Spain, Airbus
More information about Smile
Smile will also observe auroras globally in ultraviolet light to understand how Earth responds to the solar wind, being able to watch the northern lights continuously for 45 hours at a time (a first for a space mission!).
Moreover, Smile will improve our understanding of solar storms and the resulting disturbances on Earth, known as geomagnetic storms. A better understanding of the science of space weather is essential for ultimately protecting both space-based technology and the lives of any humans in orbit around the Earth.
All ESA Member States contribute to the mission through the agency's Science Programme. The largest European contributions are summarised here. Over 250 European and Chinese scientists make up the Smile scientific consortium.
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About the European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.
ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
ESA has 23 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are Associate Members.
ESA has established formal cooperation with five Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.
By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.
Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int