Author Topic: Vega C VV28 - SMILE - NET September 2025  (Read 3913 times)

Offline bolun

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Vega C VV28 - SMILE - NET September 2025
« on: 05/01/2024 11:38 am »
https://newsroom.arianespace.com/smile-will-embark-on-a-vega-c-launcher-for-esa/ [Apr 30]

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Arianespace signed a launch contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the deployment of the SMILE (Solar-wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) mission, a joint ESA-Science and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) initiative that aims to better understand our solar system. SMILE will observe Earth’s magnetic environment, the magnetosphere, on a global scale, and its interaction with the solar wind. To maximize its scientific contribution, SMILE requires a launch close to the peak of solar activity during the Sun’s 11-year cycle.

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Smile/Smiles_all_round_Vega-C_to_launch_ESA_solar_wind_mission [Apr 30]

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With today’s signature ceremony, ESA secures the launch of Smile on a Vega-C from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, currently expected for late 2025.

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Thread of SMILE solar wind mission:

ESA/CAS - SMILE updates

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33109.0

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« Last Edit: 01/30/2025 04:28 am by zubenelgenubi »

Offline bolun

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Re: VEGA C - SMILE - Late 2025
« Reply #1 on: 05/01/2024 11:41 am »
Smile spacecraft (artist impression)

Smile will be ESA's first mission to view the full Sun-Earth connection, filling an essential gap in our understanding of the Solar System.

Specifically, Smile will improve our understanding of space weather and solar storms. The magnetospheric bubble that surrounds Earth is invisible to our eyes, but with its UV and X-ray cameras, Smile will reveal this shield that protects us from the Sun. Its findings will help protect space-based technology and the lives of any humans in orbit around Earth, as well as infrastructure on Earth’s surface.

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/04/Smile_spacecraft_artist_impression

Image credit: ESA

Offline bolun

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Re: VEGA C - SMILE - Late 2025
« Reply #2 on: 05/01/2024 12:43 pm »
SMILE Milestone: SMILE to ride Vega-C for Space

On 30 April, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Arianespace officially signed a launcher services contract for the launch of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) on a Vega-C launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
 
SMILE is another mission-level China-ESA collaboration in the field of space science following the Double Star program. It is one of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’s Strategic Pioneer Programs on Space Science (Phase II) satellite missions and a Small-class mission of ESA. With the formal signing of the rocket contract and the public announcement, ESA has ensured that the SMILE mission will be launched on a Vega-C rocket from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana. The launch is one of ESA’s principal contributions to the SMILE mission.
 
In autumn 2024, the SMILE satellite platform and payloads will arrive at ESA's European Space Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands for Assembly, Integration, and Test (AIT). The integrated satellite will then be transported to the Kourou launch site in French Guiana for pre-launch tests and preparations.

http://english.nssc.cas.cn/ns/headline/202405/t20240501_662453.html

Offline catdlr

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Re: VEGA C - SMILE - Late 2025
« Reply #3 on: 11/13/2024 01:08 pm »
Introducing the Smile mission | Let's Smile (episode 1)

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Nov 13, 2024  #ESA #Smile #Documentary
Smile is the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, a brand-new space mission currently in the making. It will study space weather and the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s environment.

Unique about Smile is that it will take the first X-ray images and videos of the solar wind slamming into Earth’s protective magnetic bubble, and its complementary ultraviolet images will provide the longest-ever continuous look at the northern lights.

In this first of several short videos, David Agnolon (Smile Project Manager) and Philippe Escoubet (Smile Project Scientist) talk about the why and the how of Smile. You’ll see scenes of the building and testing of the spacecraft’s payload module by Airbus in Madrid, including the installation of one of the European instruments, the Soft X-ray Imager from the University of Leicester.

Smile is a 50–50 collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). ESA provides the payload module of the spacecraft, which carries three of the four science instruments, and the Vega-C rocket which will launch Smile to space. CAS provides the platform module hosting the fourth science instrument, as well as the service and propulsion modules.

Credit: ESA/Lightcurve Films

Acknowledgements: Direction, main camera, sound, editing, post-production by Lightcurve Films. Original music by William Zeitler. Artwork shown in the video is by Eryka Isaak and CAS.

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Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: Vega C VV28 - SMILE - September 2025
« Reply #4 on: 12/06/2024 07:27 pm »
Cross-post:
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1053587 [Aug 5]
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The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) is a joint collaborative science mission between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) that will study how the solar wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetic environment. It is due for launch from September 2025 on an ESA Vega-C rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.
« Last Edit: 12/29/2024 05:16 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline GWR64

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Re: Vega C VV28 - SMILE - September 2025
« Reply #5 on: 12/14/2024 09:25 am »
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2024/12/Smile_s_other_half_arrives_Let_s_Smile_action_snippet

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Smile's other half arrives | Let’s Smile (action snippet)
12/12/2024

On 9 December 2024, the Smile Platform arrived safely at Amsterdam Schiphol airport and was subsequently transported to ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. It came a long way, having travelled all the way from Shanghai, China. 

This marks an important step in the Smile mission, as the spacecraft's two halves are now in the same location, ready to be joined together. Launching in around a year from now, Smile will study space weather and the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s environment.

The Platform, built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), includes the propulsion and service modules responsible for powering, steering and controlling the spacecraft. The European half of the spacecraft –  the so-called Payload Module – was built by Airbus in Madrid and is already at ESTEC. It hosts three of the four science instruments of the mission, commands all four of them and downlinks all the data back to Earth.

The Platform didn't travel alone. It was accompanied by a team of Smile engineers and managers from CAS. They will closely work together with their European counterparts from ESA and Airbus during the coming ten months to assemble the Smile spacecraft and fully test it at ESA's ESTEC Test Centre.

After that, Smile will be shipped to Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Its launch is planned for late 2025.


« Last Edit: 12/14/2024 09:40 am by GWR64 »

Offline GewoonLukas_

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Re: Vega C VV28 - SMILE - late 2025
« Reply #6 on: 12/28/2024 08:28 pm »
Launch is scheduled for September 2025:

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Cutting-edge telescope built at Space Park Leicester makes final departure to join SMILE mission
05/08/2024

[...]

The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) is a joint collaborative science mission between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) that will study how the solar wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetic environment. It is due for launch from September 2025 on an ESA Vega-C rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.

[...]
Lukas C. H. • Hobbyist Mission Patch Artist 🎨 • May the force be with you my friend, Ad Astra Per Aspera ✨️

Offline GWR64

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Re: Vega C VV28 - SMILE - late 2025
« Reply #7 on: 01/12/2025 12:34 pm »
Launch is scheduled for September 2025:

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Cutting-edge telescope built at Space Park Leicester makes final departure to join SMILE mission
05/08/2024

[...]

The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) is a joint collaborative science mission between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) that will study how the solar wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetic environment. It is due for launch from September 2025 on an ESA Vega-C rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.

[...]

This information is older than the one from ESA on 12/12/2024. One post before.
Sentinel-1D may be launch in September 2025 (VV28). But this is unconfirmed.

Online StraumliBlight

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Re: Vega C VV28 - SMILE - September 2025
« Reply #8 on: 01/21/2025 02:45 pm »
https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace/status/1880187940103495905

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✅Airbus just delivered the Payload Module of the SMILE spacecraft to @esa.
SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) mission aims to revolutionise the understanding of space weather.
ℹ️ Space weather, caused by interactions between particles in the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic shield, poses significant challenges in an increasingly technology-driven society.
These interactions, such as auroras or geomagnetic storms, can disrupt power grids, corrode pipes and affect high-frequency communications and satellite navigation like GPS or Galileo.

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