The SMILE satellite is shipped from the port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. [Photo by the European Space Agency]
All prelaunch activities for the China-Europe joint mission, the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), have been completed at Europe”s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America, and the launch is scheduled for April 9, the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced Thursday.
The spacecraft, representing a landmark collaboration between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the European Space Agency, has been integrated onto the Vega-C rocket to connect the satellite to the launch vehicle. This marks the mission’s entry into the final launch countdown.