The Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (Smile) mission has passed its qualification and flight acceptance review, confirming that the spacecraft meets all requirements for launch. The ESA–CAS joint mission is now preparing for lift-off, with a launch window set between 8 April and 7 May 2026 on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Smile is designed to provide the first global, simultaneous view of how Earth’s magnetic environment responds to the solar wind. Using a suite of X-ray and ultraviolet cameras, along with particle and magnetic field detectors, the mission will observe how streams of charged particles and bursts of solar radiation interact with Earth’s magnetosphere. The data will help scientists better understand how the planet’s magnetic shield deflects and absorbs solar activity.
The latest milestone follows the completion of a ten-month Assembly, Integration and Testing campaign carried out at ESA’s ESTEC facility in the Netherlands between November 2024 and September 2025. With testing now complete, Smile is entering its launch preparation phase, with the specific launch date within the approved window to be set early next year. ESA notes that Europe’s Spaceport will host multiple launches in 2026, requiring coordinated planning across all campaigns.
ESA Director of Science, Professor Carole Mundell, said the mission represents a major step forward in studying Earth’s magnetic defences, building on insights from the long-running Cluster mission, which concluded science operations last year. She highlighted the strong collaboration between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences throughout the spacecraft’s development.
Smile is scheduled to depart ESTEC in February, travelling by sea from the Port of Amsterdam to French Guiana. The voyage will take around 12 days, after which final launch preparations will begin ahead of its planned spring 2026 lift-off.
Image: The Smile mission team takes a quick break from testing the spacecraft’s instruments to smile for a group photo in front of the spacecraft. Credit: ESA-M.Roos
