A Vega C rocket launches the SMILE space weather mission from Kourou, French Guiana on May 18, 2026.
(Image credit: ESA/Avio)
A European-Chinese space weather mission launched to orbit on Monday night (May 18).The SMILE spacecraft lifted off atop a Vega C rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana Monday at 11:52 p.m. EDT (0352 GMT and 5:52 a.m. local Kourou time on May 19).SMILE (short for Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) will use four science instruments to study how Earth is affected by the solar wind, the flow of charged particles streaming constantly from the sun."In doing so, SMILE will improve our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms and the science of space weather," European Space Agency (ESA) officials wrote in a mission description.The Chinese Academy of Sciences is responsible for SMILE's satellite platform, spacecraft operations and three of the four science instruments — the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI), the Light Ion Analyser (LIA) and the Magnetometer (MAG).ESA provided SMILE's payload module, the other science instrument (the Soft X-ray Imager, or SXI), the rocket and assembly and testing integration and services. The agency also contributed to the UVI instrument and will help with operations in orbit, according to ESA's mission description.
