SMILE Mission:
The Chinese and European space agencies are launching SMILE, their first joint mission, to investigate Earth’s defenses against the Sun.
- SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint ESA (European Space Agency)and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) mission.
- It will study the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere.
- It aims to capture the first X-ray images of Earth’s protective magnetic shield in action as it battles and deflects harmful charged particles and energies coming from the Sun.
- It will be positioned at about 1.21 lakh km above Earth’s north pole and be able to observe the edge of the magnetosphere in its entirety.
- Mission Life: SMILE weighs about 2,600 kg and has a mission life of about three years.
- The mission is carrying four scientific instruments,
- ESA has developed the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), whereas the Chinese team has developed the other three payloads — Magnetometer, Light Ion Analyser (LIA) and Ultraviolet aurora Imager (UVI).
- The four instruments will operate both on X-ray and ultraviolet wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- All these payloads will use remote sensing and make in situ(on site) observations along the near-Earth regions.
- It is designed to get answers interaction of a stream of solar wind with Earth’s magnetic shield and the magnetic glitches occurring on the dark side of Earth.
- It will help solar physicists better understand space weather.
- It will also help forecasting any impending solar storm or likely perturbations to space weather.
