Smile launch kit
Download this launch kit (in English, other languages coming soon) to learn more about the Smile mission, its science goals and its launch timeline.
Click here to view the launch kit in English.
Coming soon in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Mandarin.
This interactive media kit is a set of 12 infographics designed especially for media covering the Smile mission. Navigate between pages from the contents or with the arrows at the bottom of each page. At the bottom right of each page, click on the download arrow symbol to directly access a webpage to download the full-size infographic. On select pages, click on the i symbol to find out more about that particular topic.
It is also possible to access and download individual infographics from the bottom of this webpage.
Smile is set to launch on a European Vega-C rocket between 8 April and 7 May. It will give humankind its first complete look at how Earth reacts to streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun. By scrutinising Earth's response to the solar wind, Smile will improve our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms and the science of space weather.
Follow the launch live via esawebtv.esa.int.
About Smile
Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Smile will use four science instruments to study how Earth responds to the solar wind from the Sun. In doing so, Smile will improve our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms and the science of space weather.
ESA is responsible for providing Smile’s payload module (which carries three of the four science instruments), one of the spacecraft’s four science instruments (the soft X-ray imager, SXI), the launcher, and the Assembly Integration and Testing facilities and services. ESA contributes to a second science instrument (the ultraviolet imager, UVI) and the mission operations once Smile is in orbit.
CAS provides the other three science instruments and the spacecraft platform, and is responsible for operating the spacecraft in orbit.
Smile is part of ESA's Cosmic Vision programme, principally contributing to answering the question ‘How does the Solar System work?’
For more information, visit: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/ Smile
