Smile spacecraft during a spacecraft-launcher fit-check

Smile will study Earth’s magnetic environment (its magnetosphere) on a global scale, building a more complete understanding of the Sun-Earth connection. It will do this by observing the flow of charged particles streaming out from the Sun into interplanetary space (the solar wind) and exploring how these interact with the space around our planet.

This photo was taken during a test at ESA's technical heart ESTEC in 2023, during a test to be sure that the spacecraft fits the adapter that will connect it to the rocket that will launch it into space in 2025.

Smile is a joint mission between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. ESA is providing Smile’s payload module, which carries the scientific instruments, the payload module equipment control unit and the communication channel that downlinks all the science data to the ground.