{"id":456234,"date":"2026-05-19T07:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456234\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T07:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:34:11","slug":"smile-spacecraft-launches-to-study-earths-magnetosphere-and-space-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456234\/","title":{"rendered":"Smile spacecraft launches to study Earth\u2019s magnetosphere and space weather"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The Smile spacecraft has launched on a Vega-C rocket from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in French Guiana, starting a joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) mission aimed at improving understanding of space weather and how Earth\u2019s magnetic environment reacts to the solar wind.<\/p>\n

ESA said the launch took place at 04:52 BST \/ 05:52 CEST (00:52 local time) on 19 May 2026. After separation, the first signal from the spacecraft was received by ESA\u2019s New Norcia ground station in Australia at 06:48 CEST, followed by solar panel deployment at 06:49 CEST.<\/p>\n

Smile (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is designed to study solar storms and geomagnetic storms by observing the magnetosphere and auroras using X-ray and ultraviolet instruments. ESA says the mission will produce the first X-ray observations of Earth\u2019s magnetic shield and use ultraviolet imaging to observe auroras for up to 45 hours at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are about to witness something we\u2019ve never seen before \u2013 Earth\u2019s invisible armour in action,\u201d ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said. He added that the mission reflects long-standing cooperation between ESA and China, and said it is intended to advance scientific knowledge and support the peaceful use of space.<\/p>\n

ESA Smile Project Manager David Agnolon said Smile is the first mission that ESA and China have \u201cjointly selected, designed, implemented, launched and operated\u201d together. ESA Science Director Professor Carole Mundell said the mission builds on technologies used in previous ESA missions, including Cluster and XMM-Newton, and highlighted the collaboration between European and Chinese engineering and science teams.<\/p>\n

ESA says Smile will compare X-ray images of the magnetosphere with ultraviolet images of auroras to track how solar wind-driven disturbances move through Earth\u2019s magnetic environment. ESA Smile Project Scientist Philippe Escoubet said the mission\u2019s results are expected to improve models of Earth\u2019s magnetic environment, with potential benefits for protecting astronauts and space technologies.<\/p>\n

Over the next month, ESA said Smile will raise its altitude via 11 engine burns into an \u201cextremely elliptical orbit\u201d reaching 121,000 km above the North Pole and 5,000 km above the South Pole. ESA said data collection is expected to begin in July after deployment of booms, opening camera covers, and instrument checks.<\/p>\n

ESA said Airbus Defence and Space in Spain built the payload module carrying three of Smile\u2019s four science instruments, including the X-ray and ultraviolet imagers, plus instrument control and communications systems. The X-ray camera, described by ESA as Smile\u2019s largest instrument, was developed and built in the UK by the University of Leicester in collaboration with Mullard Space Science Laboratory and the Open University, alongside other European institutions.<\/p>\n

According to ESA, contributions to the payload module and X-ray camera came from institutes and companies in 14 European countries, with the United Kingdom and Spain providing the largest contributions. ESA said its financial contribution to the mission is \u20ac130 million through more than 25 procurement contracts involving over 40 companies and institutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Smile spacecraft has launched on a Vega-C rocket from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in French Guiana, starting a joint…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[197988,61,60,82,247,197989],"class_list":["post-456234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-earths-magnetosphere","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space","tag-the-smile-spacecraft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}