ESA's Smile Spacecraft Arrives at Europe's Spaceport

The Smile spacecraft has touched down in French Guiana, marking a key milestone for the ESA-Chinese solar wind mission.

Smile (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) arrived at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou on February 26 after a two-week journey from the Netherlands aboard the Maritime Nantaise Colibri cargo ship. During the coming weeks, the spacecraft will undergo final preparations for launch on a Vega-C rocket between April 8 and May 7, according to ESA.

The 2,300-kg spacecraft will first receive a full health check to ensure no damage during transit, then 'swallow' 1,500 kg of propellant before meeting its rocket. The Vega-C is a four-stage rocket: P120C first stage, Zefiro-40 second stage, Zefiro-9 third stage, and an upper stage for precision insertion into low-Earth orbit.

From there, Smile will maneuver itself into a highly elliptical operational orbit reaching 121,000 km above the North Pole to collect data, before swooping to 5,000 km above the South Pole for ground station downloads.

The mission is a joint venture between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, using four instruments to study how Earth responds to the solar wind — key to understanding solar storms and space weather.