China-Europe SMILE Satellite Enters Science Operations and Returns Its First Images

September 30 (IT Home) — According to the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, SMILE — the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, a satellite developed jointly by China and Europe — has successfully passed its in-orbit test review and moved into its science operation phase.

SMILE was successfully launched on 19 May 2026 from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. After about a month of orbital manoeuvres, the satellite reached its science observation orbit on 20 June, with a perigee of 5,120 km and an apogee of 120,900 km. Once in the planned orbit, the payload module and the science instruments were switched on one after another. The equipment worked normally, the science payloads completed in-orbit commissioning and calibration, and valid scientific data were obtained, in line with expectations.

The in-orbit test results show that all mission units on the satellite are operating normally and that every function and performance specification has been verified. The team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has independently completed all operations of the satellite’s payload module. This lays a solid foundation for the first integrated imaging observation of the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere, and for dynamically revealing the solar wind–magnetosphere coupling process. All four science payloads are in good working order. Both China and Europe spoke highly of the cooperation and expressed strong approval of the in-orbit test results and the outcomes of the collaboration.

IT Home has learned that the first batch of in-orbit observation images and detection data includes uninterrupted panoramic and fine-structure images of the northern hemisphere aurora captured for the first time internationally by the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI); an image of a supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud taken by the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI); and high-resolution in-orbit detection data from very high Earth orbit obtained for the first time internationally by the Magnetometer (MAG) and the Low-energy Ion Analyzer (LIA).

The UVI is used to monitor changes in the aurora over space and time, to identify and track auroral structures, and to characterise the deposition of energy in the solar wind–magnetosphere coupling system. It was switched on on 16 July 2026. Figure 1 shows an image of the northern hemisphere aurora. Auroral images are a visual window onto how matter and energy are transported in the magnetosphere. By following the dynamic changes of different types of structure in auroral images, researchers can understand the dynamic behaviour of plasma in the magnetosphere.

The UVI is currently the imager with the longest continuous auroral panoramic monitoring time and the highest time resolution in orbit anywhere in the world, with a longest continuous observation time of 44 hours and a highest time resolution of 5 seconds. On SMILE’s unique highly elliptical orbit, the UVI will carry out long-term auroral panoramic monitoring at high spatial and temporal resolution, visualising the entire process of solar wind–magnetosphere coupling.

The SXI was switched on on 27 June 2026; the equipment is working normally and calibration of the payload has been completed. With the SXI, SMILE becomes the first spacecraft to carry out detailed, long-duration X-ray observations of Earth’s magnetic field.

Figure 2 shows the remnant of a giant star that exploded in the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160,000 light-years away. These million-degree “supernova remnants” shine brightly in X-rays, making the Large Magellanic Cloud and N132D excellent targets for SMILE. Once in its science operation phase, SMILE will observe the soft X-rays released when the edge of Earth’s magnetosphere is struck by charged particles from the Sun.

Officials said that the successful operation of SMILE marks a new stage in China-Europe cooperation in space science, and that it will make an important contribution to humanity’s understanding of solar wind–magnetosphere interaction and to improving space weather forecasting.