China and Europe launch joint SMILE satellite mission
CAS and ESA say the spacecraft will study Earth’s magnetic environment and the planet’s defense against solar wind.
Quick Look
China and Europe have launched SMILE, their first jointly developed satellite, to study Earth’s magnetic environment and the mechanism that protects the planet from solar wind.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
SMILE is a satellite jointly developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the European Space Agency. The mission was launched under a project started in 2015 to build a tool for studying Earth’s magnetic environment.
China and Europe have launched SMILE, their first jointly developed satellite mission, to study Earth’s magnetic environment and the mechanism that protects the planet from solar wind.
The satellite was jointly designed and developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) under a project launched in 2015. ESA said the collaboration between engineering and science teams in Europe and China continued through global challenges, including pandemic travel restrictions and geographically distributed teams.
ESA’s director of science, Carole Mundell, said: “The trusted collaboration between our engineering and science teams in Europe and China has endured through global challenges such as pandemic travel restrictions and geographically distributed teams,” and added: “It is exciting to see this all come together today and I am looking forward to the new scientific discoveries SMILE will deliver.”
She also said: “It builds on groundbreaking scientific and technological heritage from previous missions … taking tried-and-tested technologies and applying them in a new way to reveal Earth’s magnetic environment like never before.”
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
ESA and CAS will publicize early mission results or status updates.
Likely · Within weeks
Open Questions
- What scientific discoveries will SMILE produce first?
- When will the mission begin returning data?
- How will the findings be used in space weather forecasting?
