The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
Smile is a brand-new space mission currently in the making. It will study space weather and the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic environment.
At the European Space Agency’s technical heart in the Netherlands, engineers have spent the last five months unboxing and testing different elements of the spacecraft, and joining the two main parts together. Due to launch by the end of 2025, Smile is now well on its way to being ready for space.
This video provides a glimpse into what we’ve been up to recently. It is the second episode in a series of short videos, and includes interviews with Adriana González Castro (ESA Smile Project Controller), Walfried Raab (ESA Smile Lead Payload Engineer), Sylvain Vey (ESA Smile Instrument and Operations Interface Engineer), Li Jing (CAS Smile Project Manager), Benjamin Vanoutryve (Smile AIT/AIV and Launcher Interface Principal Engineer), and José Ignacio Maestra Onteniente (Airbus Smile AIT Manager).
Access the other episodes of ‘Let’s Smile’
Introducing the Smile mission – Let’s Smile (episode 1)
Smile’s other half arrives – Let’s Smile (action snippet)
Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a 50–50 collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).