09/03/2026
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The Smile spacecraft has reached the spaceport in French Guiana, Europe. During the coming weeks, the spacecraft will undergo final preparations for launch on a Vega-C rocket between April 8 and May 7.
After a two-week voyage from the Netherlands, the Maritime Nantes Kolibri cargo ship carrying Smile arrived in Kourou, French Guiana, on Thursday 26 February.
Smile Team members Bruno Brass and Chris Runciman sent a joint statement upon arriving in French Guiana:
“A memorable adventure aboard the MN Colibri. The cold, choppy sea at departure gave way to warm, calm waters upon arrival. Our objective was to protect the spacecraft’s environment and ensure continuous instrument purification. The journey felt both long and quick: across the Atlantic, yet completed in two weeks, always at ‘school-zone speed’ (our running joke on board).”
Smile reaches French Guiana
After docking, the containers carrying the spacecraft and its accompanying instruments were carefully unloaded. They were then taken by lorry to the spaceport, located just a few kilometers from the city of Kourou.
The first task for the onsite team was to unpack the spacecraft – opening the box it was shipped in and gently placing it on a dedicated platform.
Next, Smile will undergo a full health checkup to ensure she has suffered no harm during the long journey, and will then ‘swallow’ 1500 kilograms of energetic propellant for her journey into space, before finally meeting the rocket that will carry her into space.
Vega-C Smile getting ready to launch
Smile traveled to Europe’s spaceport with another friend: the Vega-C upper stage. This part of the rocket will remain attached to Smile until the last moment before leaving it in a very precise orbit around the Earth. Vega-C is a four-stage rocket, each stage expending its fuel and separating one by one to propel Smile away from the Earth’s surface.
Launch technicians have already begun construction of the Vega-C rocket on the launch pad. The Vega-C is designed in the order in which each stage will fire after liftoff. First comes the P120C first stage, then the second stage Zefiro-40, and the third stage Zefiro-9. These stages run on solid propellant and provide most of the thrust needed to launch the 2300 kg spacecraft. Pictures of these preparations are available here.
Vega-C’s fourth or ‘upper’ stage provides precision propulsion to release Smile into low-Earth orbit. From there, the spacecraft will take over to bring itself into its final, very elliptical, operational orbit that passes 121,000 km above the North Pole to collect data, before descending 5000 km above the South Pole to transmit it to waiting ground stations.
For the latest updates on launch preparations, visit our dedicated page.
Smile Launch Timeline
about smile
SMILE (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 reacts to the solar wind coming from the Sun. In doing so, SMILE will improve our understanding of the science of solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and 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 (Soft X-ray Imager, SXI), launcher and assembly integration, and test facilities and services. Once SMILE is in orbit, ESA contributes a second science instrument (Ultraviolet Imager, UVI) and mission operations.
The CAS provides the other three science instruments and the spacecraft platform, and is responsible for operation of the spacecraft in orbit.
SMILE is part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme, which primarily contributes to answering the question ‘How does the Solar System work?’
For more information, visit: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Smile
About Vega-C
Europe’s Vega-C rocket can launch small scientific and Earth observation spacecraft such as 2300 kg into space. Standing 35 meters high, Vega-C weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad and reaches orbit with three solid-propellant-powered stages before a fourth liquid-propellant stage takes over to precisely place the satellites in their desired orbit around the 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, with Avio acting as prime contractor and design authority.
For more information, visit: https://www.esa.int/Enableing_Support/Space_Transportation/Vega/Vega-C
