On July 6-7, 2016, ISSI-BJ forum on “The Link between Solar Wind, Magnetosphere, Ionosphere” was successfully held. About 30 leading scientists from 5 countries participated in this forum, which convened by Chi Wang (NSSC, CAS), Graziella Branduardi-Raymont (UCL, UK), Benoit Lavraud (CNRS, France), Tony Lui (APL, USA) and Maurizio Falanga (ISSI-BJ, China).

The Forum’s main aims divide the meeting into 4 sessions:  overview to the Solar Wind Magnetosphere and Ionosphere Coupling; key science of the Solar wind, Magnetosphere, Ionosphere Coupling; Instruments and capability required; Synergies Complementary missions and International Collaborations. In this context , the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) selected a joint small mission (SMILE to be launched in 2021) to trace these processes from beginning (the Sun) to end (the Earth's aurora) and investigate how the solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetic environment in a way unmatched so far.

The Forum started with an overview and goals of SMILE mission. The participants discussed the interaction between Earth's protective shield – the magnetosphere – and the supersonic solar wind. SMILE is expected to give an important contribution to our understanding of space weather and, in particular, the physical processes taking place during the continuous interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere.

An issue of Taikong, the ISSI-BJ magazine will be devoted to the content of this Forum for distribution to the science communities and space science institutions.