Tootfinder

The European-Chinese #Smile mission reached its designated science orbit on 20 June 2026: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/06/Smile_reaches_science_orbit - the team is now embarking on a two-month campaign to ‘commission’ the spacecraft, which involves switching on and testing out its toolbox of science instruments.

Press releases about the successful #Smile launch: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Smile/Smile_lifts_off_on_quest_to_reveal_Earth_s_invisible_shield_against_the_solar_wind and https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-plays-leading-role-as-landmark-mission-launches-to-unlock-secrets-of-earths-magnetic-shield and https://le.ac.uk/news/2026/may/landmark-mission-launches-earth-magnetic-shield-smile and https://www.avio.com/press-release/avio-successfully-launches-the-smile-satellite-with-vega-c- and https://cnes.fr/evenements/vv29-lancement-de-vega-c-satellite-smile - and two photos from https://x.com/EuropeSpacePort/status/2056591274384257239 and https://bsky.app/profile/transport.esa.int/post/3mm6s5d5nxk2d

The #Smile mission is progressing smoothly along the timeline in https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Smile/How_to_follow_the_Smile_launch_live - the first upper stage boost has just taken place, to be followed by a second one and deployment of the spacecraft in 1/2 hour. Here it is during launch preps, from the Chinese album https://www.facebook.com/Spacewalk2021/posts/pfbid02SGPLPEBy6PRhY5mzvqKzbio9HHzKNtT4ZQ2NP2MefmcBBECCGYDK8MK2LgriZuCBl

In 1 1/2 hours - at 3:30 UTC - the #ESA live transmission of the #Vega launch of #Smile should begin at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q8aKbcKCOs (see https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Smile/Smile_factsheet2 for more about the mission and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZzio0c3YSk for a pre-launch press conference in March).

And here comes #Smile - clean on-time Vega-C launch of the novel Euro-Chinese magnetosphere imager!

Three good news from #Smile: separation, AOS and solar cell deployment: https://bsky.app/profile/science.esa.int/post/3mm6ltik4rk2k

Before #Smile can begin studying how Earth responds to the streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun, the spacecraft had to complete an extraordinary journey here on Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwfJNEoDUvo