The "Smile" satellite has fully transitioned to normal development, serving as China's first space exploration mission in deep cooperation with the European Space Agency
On July 13, 2023, Beijing time, the Chairman of the Central European Evaluation Committee for the Solar Wind Magnetosphere Interaction Panoramic Imaging Satellite officially signed the task conversion design review report, marking the completion of all development work in the initial stage of the task and the full transition to the normal development stage.
The chairman of the review committee was Wang Chi, the director of the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese chief scientist of the "Smiling Satellite" mission, Ye Peijian, the chief engineer of the "Smiling Satellite" mission, and G Colangelo and F., Director of Future Missions at the European Space Agency Safa takes on the role. The review committee is composed of representatives and experts from the research and development teams of both China and Europe.
This review is another important milestone of the "Smiling Satellite" mission after the Chinese Academy of Sciences approved the project establishment of the Chinese side in November 2016, the European Space Agency approved the project establishment of the European side in March 2019, and the China EU joint prototype design review was transferred to the prototype development stage in January 2020.
The "Smiling Satellite" platform and payload module are expected to arrive at the European Space Technology Center in July 2024 for the integration and testing of positive samples. The "Smiling Satellite" is the first space science exploration mission conducted by China in deep cooperation with the European Space Agency. Its scientific objectives are to explore the large-scale structure and basic patterns of the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere, and to explore the occurrence and development of magnetic storms driven by coronal mass ejections.
The overall project is jointly composed of the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the European Space Agency. The satellite is developed by the Institute of Microsatellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The carrier rocket is developed by the European Ariana Space Company. The scientific application system is jointly composed of scientists from China and Europe. The scientific data storage is respectively responsible by the National Space Science Data Center and the European Space Astrophysics Center. The measurement and control system is mainly Chinese, supplemented by European. It is planned to be launched at the Kuru launch site in the first half of 2025.