Sino-European SMILE Space Weather Satellite Nears South American Launch
Having arrived in French Guiana a few weeks ago, the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ space weather satellite is not far from being ready for launch.
Having departed Europe at the Port of Amsterdam on February 11th, the Sino-European SMILE1 space weather satellite arrived in French Guiana, in South America, a little over two weeks later on February 26th, with the European Space Agency disclosing its arrival on March 9th.
Not long after arrival, the satellite, still in its climate-controlled transportation container, was whisked away to a cleanroom a few kilometers away at the Guiana Space Centre for pre-launch processing and final tests. A few days after the European Space Agency’s press release, the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院微小卫星创新研究院) shared that SMILE was healthy at the space centre following delivery.
Final tests are expected to have been completed, with recent pre-launch efforts fueling up the satellite with 1,500 kilograms of propellant into the China-made platform module. That will have SMILE weigh 2,300 kilograms once completed.
While SMILE was traveling from Europe and during its processing in French Guiana, the Vega-C rocket set to carry it has been undergoing stacking of its four stages since mid-February. On February 19th, the solid-propellant first-stage was driven onto the launch pad and secured. Then, using Ensemble de Lancement Vega’s mobile gantry, the second and third stages, also filled with solid propellant, were stacked on February 25th and March 2nd, respectively. Most recently, on March 20th, the liquid-propellant fourth-stage was placed atop Vega-C.
In the coming days, SMILE will be secured onto Vega-C’s payload adapter before being encapsulated by the rocket’s two fairing halves. After encapsulation, the satellite will be taken to the launch pad and placed atop of it ahead of launch.
At present, the European Space Agency is working towards having SMILE ready to launch atop of Vega-C on April 9th. Launch opportunities for the satellite are running until May 7th.
The launch of Vega-C will deliver SMILE to a circular 700-kilometer Earth orbit around fifty-seven minutes after liftoff. Between five to thirty days after launch, SMILE will place itself into its 121,000-by-5,000-kilometer science orbit to begin studying Earth’s magnetosphere, solar winds, and the effects of coronal mass ejections from the Sun.
Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer.