在当前地缘政治与太空竞争加剧的背景下，Smile 是中国与西方公共机构少有的联合技术项目之一。ESA 与 CAS 的合作团队长期共事，双方高层在会晤中重申仍保留未来协作空间，但未形成具体后续计划。执行层面上，技术外流管制、出入境与安全法规及工程问题使项目至少延迟一年：包括将中国卫星平台与载荷运往荷兰埃斯特克（ESTEC）组装时需通过多方审批，氨冷却管被界定为危险品，进一步增加复杂性。
科学上，Smile 搭载4台科学仪器，其中包括由英国莱斯特大学研制的软X射线成像仪和紫外成像仪，旨在补齐近30年太阳与地球磁层观测中的关键空白，且任务恰逢11年太阳活动周期的接近峰值期。紫外成像仪可持续观测北极上空的极光长达45 小时。上一次5月 2024年大规模地磁暴已扰乱全球卫导航与高频电台通讯；1989年魁北克地磁风暴导致约600万居民停电9小时；若重演1859年卡林顿事件，今天可能造成数万亿美元级损失。
Europe and China are launching the Smile mission (a joint ESA–CAS effort) this Thursday into a highly elliptical orbit from French Guiana on a Vega-C rocket, with the satellite weighing 2.3 tonnes and reaching 121,000 km above the North Pole. The mission was established in 2016 to study how solar turbulence generates space weather, and to improve forecasts of geomagnetic storms that can disrupt communications, power grids, and electronics, although no follow-up mission has yet been confirmed.
In an era of intensifying geopolitical competition, Smile is a rare large public-sector technology collaboration between China and the West. ESA and CAS teams have worked together for years, and leaders on both sides have said they still want to keep future cooperation channels open, but no specific plan exists yet. Implementation was delayed by at least one year due to export-control, safety, and technical constraints; multiple authorities had to approve transfer of the Chinese satellite platform and payloads to ESA’s ESTEC facility in the Netherlands, including ammonia heat pipes classified as dangerous goods.
Scientifically, Smile carries four instruments, including a soft X-ray imager built by the University of Leicester and a UV aurora imager, to fill key gaps in about three decades of Sun–magnetosphere research, with observations happening near the peak of the 11-year solar cycle. The UV imager can monitor auroras over the North Pole continuously for up to 45 hours. The major storm in May 2024 disrupted satellite navigation and HF radio globally; Quebec’s 1989 storm outage left about 6 million people without power for nine hours; a repeat of the 1859 Carrington event could cost trillions of dollars today.