Finally, despite the postponement last April, SMILE has been launched successfully. The mission that unites China and Europe To study how the solar winds interact with the Earth’s magnetosphere, it departed from the Kurú Space Port, in French Guiana, at 03:52 GMT (05:52, Spanish peninsular time). He has at least 3 years of work ahead of him, but before starting his work he must take some preliminary steps.
Journey to final orbit. During the first 25 days of the mission, SMILE You must start your engines 11 times. This will allow it to gradually lengthen its orbit around the Earth’s poles, until reaching 121,000 km above the North Pole and 5,000 km above the South Pole. Once in its final orbit, around June 13, it will be time to tune up all its instruments.
The final deployment. Remotely, from Earth, mission engineers will check that all SMILE instruments are working properly. For that, some must change their conformation. Specifically, it will be necessary to deploy the magnetometer arm and open the X-ray camera shutter and the UV camera cover. Each of these points is essential for the proper development of the mission.
The first images. Once the experiments have been verified, SMILE will begin its work. The first images will be sent to Earth for analysis three months later.
The mission. SMILE will study the interaction of solar activity with the shield that the Earth uses to protect itself from it. Although other missions have carried out similar tasks, it will be the first time that global images of this interaction have been taken, both in X-rays and ultraviolet.
This will give us better knowledge than we currently have about solar storms and how they affect our planet. And not only They draw us beautiful auroras in the sky. They can also affect telecommunications, sometimes worryingly. It is important to understand them and know how to predict, as far as possible, the harmful effects they could cause.
At least three years. The nominal duration of the mission will be 3 years. This means that it is designed to achieve your main objectives in this time. The economic investment of the European and Chinese space agencies has focused on guaranteeing this duration. However, that does not mean that within three years the ship will be deorbited or that all its instruments will be turned off. If it continues to function properly, its useful life could be greatly extended.
The case of Cluster. Cluster it was a mission ESA whose objective was also to measure the Earth’s magnetic environment. In a way, it could be considered a predecessor of SMILE. It was launched in 2000 and remained active until 2024. However, Its nominal duration was initially 2 years. Once the retirement date arrived, it was found that Cluster was completely fit, so it was decided to invest in it for much longer.
Maybe something similar will happen with SMILE. For now, we will have to go step by step. To begin with, it must reach its operational orbit. Once there, the magic begins. Or rather: science.
Image | THAT
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