SMILE: A new European-Chinese satellite to be launched this year

A new satellite will be launched this year, to study charged particles emitted by the sun - known as the solar wind.

It is the first full space partnership between China and the European Space Agency, and will investigate how the solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetic field.

The Solarwind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer is better known by its initials: SMILE. It will measure the solar wind and its dynamic interaction with Earth for the next three years.

The satellite is the European Space Agency's first mission-level cooperation with China.

David Agnolon is the SMILE project manager, and he hailed the collaboration in the satellite programme. 

"It's a 50-50 collaboration between China and the European Space Agency," he said, "so it brings new challenges – but also very interesting ways of working together. Hopefully we will bring back outstanding science for the scientific community both in China and in Europe."

SMILE will investigate magnetic storms driven by clouds of plasma hurled into space from the sun at around 400 kilometers per second. These are called 'coronal mass ejections' and the planet is protected from these by its magnetic field.

The interaction of charged particles slamming into the Earth's atmosphere can be seen in the auroras - the northern and southern lights.

The European Space Agency says Europe and China worked together to minimize the challenges encountered in the project.

"I think we have retired and registered a lot of risks by closely working together, understanding each other and each other's practices, standards and engineering methods," said Agnolon.

"And I think with a lot of patience, a lot of interaction and compromises we have managed to overcome all these obstacles."

The mission is due to be launched from the ESA space port in French Guiana by the end of this year.