Science with SMILE
Date: 31 October 2017
Satellite: SMILE
Copyright: ESA/ATG medialab
SMILE – the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer – aims to form an accurate picture of solar-terrestrial magnetospheric physics.
From its vantage point, SMILE will observe the solar wind interaction with the magnetosphere, gathering simultaneous images and video of the dayside magnetopause (where Earth's magnetosphere meets the solar wind - indicated in pink), the polar cusps (a region in each hemisphere where particles from the solar wind have direct access to Earth's ionosphere - indicated in green), and the auroral oval (the region around each geomagnetic pole where auroras most often occur).
The mission will be implemented by ESA's Science Programme and the Chinese National Space Science Centre (NSSC) under CAS.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
