On May 19, 2026, the SMILE Mission is scheduled to lift off. This historic international collaboration between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences aims to address one of the great mysteries of space weather: how the solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere.

Photek is proud to be a key contributor to this mission. Our advanced image intensifier technology is integrated into the spacecraft’s Ultraviolet Imager (UVI). At its core is the MCP118 image intensifier, designed for high sensitivity in the far-ultraviolet range.

This enables the UVI to capture continuous, high-quality images of Earth’s auroras and the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field by converting faint UV signals into visible light.

These observations will improve understanding of the Sun–Earth connection and enhance forecasting of space weather impacts on satellites and critical infrastructure, with Photek helping to reveal otherwise invisible phenomena.

About the Launch

Date: May 19, 2026    

Time: 05:52 CEST

Rocket: Vega-C            

Location: Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana

Destination: Highly elliptical orbit around Earth