Back Satellite Programme: Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer  

Programme details
Programme description
  • SMILE is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
  • SMILE will measure how Earth reacts to streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun.
  • Building on the 24-year legacy of the Cluster mission
  • ESA is responsible for the payload module (carrying the scientific instruments), the launch vehicle, one of the scientific instruments and part of the science operations. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is responsible for three scientific instruments, the platform, and the mission and science operations.
  • Smile will be placed in a highly inclined, highly elliptical orbit around Earth
Data circulation
  • TBD
Agencies ESA , CAS
Programme lifetime 2026 - 2029
Associated satellites and instruments

Note: red tag => no longer operational , green tag => operational , blue tag => planned