When two become one: engineers get Smile ready for launch

Written by Copernical Team Thursday, 06 March 2025 12:00

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Perfect placement for Smile’s payload module

At the European Space Agency’s technical heart in the Netherlands, engineers have spent the last five months unboxing and testing elements of Europe’s next space science mission. With the two main parts now joined together, Smile is well on its way to being ready to launch by the end of 2025.

Finally, the payload module was ready to move. Engineers attached hooks and used a hoisting device to lift it very slowly, at about a centimetre per second. Smile’s ‘assembly, integration and testing’ manager from ESA, Benjamin Vanoutryve, looked on attentively.

“This moment was finally happening, after so many years of meticulous preparation work on two sides of the world. In just a moment, we would finally see ‘our’ Smile spacecraft as a real object for the first time,” says Benjamin.

An Airbus engineer used a remote-control belt to carry the payload module over to the platform, and lower it slowly, millimetre by millimetre, to line up perfectly with the platform below. When the two were separated by just 20 cm, Airbus handed over to CAS, who took care of the very final attachment. CAS and Airbus colleagues in safety harnesses up on aerial platforms closely monitored the operation.

As the payload module was lowered into place, the engineers could start bolting the two parts of the spacecraft together. For the first time, the teams are now dealing with a complete spacecraft.

So, what’s next for this little spacecraft with big ambitions?

From this month, Smile will be tested for the first time as a complete unit. Engineers will have to get it to pass tough checks with flying colours before being allowed out on its own, including making sure that the entire system can operate properly in the vacuum of space, that the different parts of the spacecraft don’t create too much electromagnetic disturbance for other parts, and that the violent launch won’t shake the spacecraft apart.

Airbus engineers will continue to support the CAS and ESA teams throughout the entire test campaign to ensure that the platform and payload module work perfectly well together and help to resolve any issues.

By September 2025, Smile should be ready to go, and our ESTEC colleagues will wave goodbye as it ships off to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. From there, the team will prepare Smile for launch on a Vega-C rocket, hopefully by the end of this year.

Follow the latest mission news via esa.int/smile