Overview
- European and Chinese teams announced that Smile has been approved to start formal science operations following its in‑space commissioning period.
- Smile’s ultraviolet imager (UVI) recorded its first full northern‑auroral ring on July 24, showing substorm activity and demonstrating its ability to watch the complete ring for up to 45 hours continuously.
- The spacecraft carries four instruments — UVI, a soft X‑ray imager (SXI), a magnetometer (MAG) and a light ion analyser (LIA) — that together will map how the solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetic environment.
- SXI has produced test images but currently suffers unwanted stray light when pointed at Earth, and engineers are applying software and settings changes with conditions expected to improve around mid‑October.
- Data from Smile will feed models used to forecast space weather and help protect satellites, power networks and human activities in space by revealing how solar storms and geomagnetic disturbances develop.