Following a successful in-space commissioning period, the joint European-Chinese SMILE mission is officially ready for science operations on September 23, 2026, after lifting off on May 19 aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
SMILE Satellite Clears Commissioning Phase for Science Operations
The joint European Space Agency (ESA) mission was declared ready to begin regular scientific observations on September 23, 2026. The milestone follows a busy commissioning period that kicked off after the spacecraft lifted off on May 19 aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. After reaching its target orbit for science operations on June 20, teams across Europe and China spent months deploying mechanisms, powering up units, checking ground communications, and resolving minor issues.
The collaborative venture traces its roots back to a cooperative initiative jointly launched in 2015 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the European Space Agency, establishing an equal, mutually beneficial and complementary mechanism for cooperation. Within this partnership, China took full responsibility for satellite platform development, telemetry and control, ground support, and the construction of science application systems, while also leading the development of the ultraviolet auroral imager, light ion analyzer, and magnetometer payloads. Meanwhile, the European side handled the payload module and soft X-ray imager development, alongside providing the launch vehicle, launch site, and active-phase telemetry and control support. More than 250 European and Chinese scientists form the scientific consortium working on the initiative’s three-year nominal mission lifetime.
Smile is now approved to begin science operations,
said Professor Carole Mundell, ESA Director of Science. She called the milestone very important and stated her expectation that the partnership will deliver new, unprecedented data.
Ultraviolet Imager Captures Day and Night Auroral Rings
The spacecraft’s ultraviolet camera has already captured the auroral ring, successfully closing an 18-year gap since NASA’s Polar mission ended in 2008. The Ultraviolet Imager, known as UVI, recorded footage on July 24 that showcases an auroral substorm triggered when solar wind particles disturbed Earth’s magnetic field.
Because the instrument looks northward and filters out solar reflections, it captures auroral activity stretching across both the night and day sides of the planet. This capability allows scientists to observe auroras glowing on Earth’s dayside—activity that is typically lost in the glare of the sun. UVI can record these displays continuously for up to 45 hours at a stretch, a record-breaking duration for observing how the auroral oval changes alongside fluctuating conditions in the solar wind.
“Inspector SMILE is ready for science! This is SMILE’s first ultraviolet view showing an auroral substorm.”
European Space Agency, via agency announcement
Soft X-Ray Imager Uses Lobster-Eye Telescope Design
Alongside the ultraviolet observations, SMILE carries a Soft X-ray Imager, a European-contributed instrument designed to turn the boundary where the solar wind meets Earth’s magnetic field into detailed images. The X-ray camera utilizes a wide-field lobster-eye telescope design inspired by the compound eyes of crustaceans, which focuses light using arrays of tiny reflective channels called micropores—each approximately 40 microns across—that redirect X-rays through grazing-incidence reflection to produce a field of view spanning 15.5 degrees by 26 degrees. However, engineers are currently addressing a stray light artifact when the instrument points toward Earth, with the unwanted light expected to reduce naturally as the spacecraft points farther away and northern winter approaches, reaching a minimum in mid-October.
The mission brings together four core scientific instruments, including a magnetometer and a light ion analyzer, to investigate how solar activity interacts with our planet’s magnetic environment. Researchers note that understanding space weather is critical for protecting power grids, satellite operations, and communication systems from the disruptive impacts of severe geomagnetic storms.