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The SMILE Mission
May 25 , 2026
14 hrs 0 min
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- The European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched the SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) mission, their first fully joint space mission.
- The mission carries the world’s first space-borne Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) to study the interaction between solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere.
- SMILE aims to capture global X-ray and ultraviolet images of Earth’s magnetic shield during solar activity and space weather events.
- The mission includes four scientific payloads: Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), Ultraviolet Aurora Imager (UVI), Light Ion Analyser (LIA), and Magnetometer (MAG).
- The 2,600-kg satellite will operate in a highly elliptical orbit about 1.21 lakh km above Earth’s North Pole.
- The mission will help improve space weather forecasting and protect satellites, Global Positioning System (GPS), power grids, and communication systems from solar storms.
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