Teledyne Space Imaging Sensors Launch Aboard European Space Agency’s SMILE Mission

Teledyne Space Imaging, a supplier of space-qualified imaging sensors, focal plane arrays and integrated camera systems, announced it supplied two CCD370 imaging sensors for the Soft X-ray Imager on the European Space Agency’s SMILE mission (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer). SMILE successfully launched at 04:52 BST from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

SMILE is a scientific collaboration designed to advance understanding of space weather and the interaction between the Sun and Earth. SMILE will use four science instruments to study how Earth responds to solar wind, improving our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and the wider science of space weather.

At the heart of the mission’s Soft X-ray Imager are two CCD370 imaging sensors from Teledyne Space Imaging, which will capture soft X-ray emissions generated as solar wind particles interact with Earth’s magnetic field. The sensors will observe photons with energies from 0.2 to 2.0 keV, enabling scientists to study the boundary regions where the solar wind meets Earth’s magnetosphere and gain new insights into the processes shaping our planet’s space environment.