30/04/2024 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 30 April, the European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement for the launch of its solar wind mission, Smile, on a Vega-C rocket. The launch is currently scheduled for late 2025. Vega-C will place Smile in a low-Earth orbit, from which the spacecraft will propel itself into a high-Earth orbit. In this final egg-shaped orbit, Smile will fly around the Earth roughly every two days. Smile, standing for ‘Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link...