Science & Exploration
02/04/2026
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ESA will be broadcasting live as the European-Chinese Smile mission launches at 07:29 BST/08:29 CEST (03:29 local time) on 9 April 2026.
Smile will launch on a European Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Times subject to change at short notice.
Watch live from 08:10 CEST on 9 April
Tune into ESA Web TV directly or via the ESA YouTube livestream to follow the launch live.
The launch programme will run from 08:10–09:45 CEST. Milestones include:
Event
Time after liftoff
Time in CEST
Liftoff, first stage ignition
00:00
08:29
First stage expends all its fuel and separates
00:02
08:31
Second stage ignition
00:02
08:31
Second stage expends all its fuel and separates
00:04
08:33
Third stage ignition
00:04
08:33
Fairing opens revealing Smile to the sky
00:04
08:33
Third stage expends all its fuel and separates
00:07
08:36
First ignition of upper stage
00:20
08:49
End of first upper stage boost
00:24
08:53
Second upper stage boost starts
00:52
09:21
End of second upper stage boost
00:54
09:23
Smile separates from Vega-C and flies free
00:56
09:25
Expected time of acquisition of Smile’s first signal from space
00:57
09:26
Expected time of deployment of Smile’s solar arrays
01:03
09:32
Third upper stage boost to deorbit
02:00
10:29
End of third upper stage boost. Vega-C mission complete
02:01
10:30
Press release
An ESA press release will be issued when it is confirmed that Smile’s solar arrays have successfully deployed, which is expected to happen at 09:32 CEST. The press release will be available via the ESA Newsroom and esa.int/Smile.
Beyond launch day
After the Vega-C rocket drops Smile off in a circular orbit 700 km above Earth’s surface, the spacecraft will fire its engines 11 times in 25 days.
These engine burns will gradually elongate Smile’s orbit around Earth’s poles, until it is reaching 121 000 km above the North Pole and 5000 km above the South Pole.
Once Smile has arrived in this final operational orbit, the mission team will prepare the spacecraft for science. As well as checking that everything works as planned, this involves remotely unfolding Smile’s magnetometer boom, opening the shutter of its X-ray camera and opening the cover of its ultraviolet camera.
About three months after launch, the team will receive the first X-ray and ultraviolet images, and then finally begin the science that Smile is designed to do. The planned mission lifetime is three years.
Stay updated via esa.int/Smile.
About Smile
Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Smile will use four science instruments to study how Earth responds to the solar wind from the Sun. In doing so, Smile will improve our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms and the science of space weather.
ESA is responsible for providing Smile’s payload module (which carries three of the four science instruments), one of the spacecraft’s four science instruments (the soft X-ray imager, SXI), the launcher, and the Assembly Integration and Testing facilities and services. ESA contributes to a second science instrument (the ultraviolet imager, UVI) and the mission operations once Smile is in orbit.
CAS provides the other three science instruments and the spacecraft platform, and is responsible for operating the spacecraft in orbit.
Smile is part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme, principally contributing to answering the question ‘How does the Solar System work?’
For more information, visit:Â https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Smile
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About Vega-C
Europe’s Vega-C rocket can launch 2300 kg into space, such as small scientific and Earth observation spacecraft. At 35 m tall, Vega-C weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad and reaches orbit with three solid-propellant-powered stages before the fourth liquid-propellant stage takes over for precise placement of satellites into their desired orbit around Earth.
Complementing the Ariane family to launch all types of payloads into their desired orbits, Vega-C ensures that Europe has versatile and independent access to space. ESA leads the Vega-C programme, working with Avio as prime contractor and design authority.
For more information, visit:Â https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Vega/Vega-C
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