KOUROU, GF / ACCESS Newswire / May 22, 2026 / Avio successfully launched the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) scientific satellite for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana with a Vega C launcher. The satellite was delivered to a circular low Earth orbit, at an altitude of approximately 700 km, for a mission to a high inclination and high elliptical orbit with a perigee of 5,000 km and an apogee of 121,000 km. The flight lasted 57 minutes from lift-off to separation of the satellite.
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