On 28 February 2017, a delegation headed by Alvaro Gimenez, Director of Science from European Space Agency (ESA), paid an official visit to NSSC and met with Prof. WU Ji, Director General of NSSC and Prof. WANG Chi, Deputy Director General of NSSC. During the meeting, both sides engaged in intense discussion of the collaboration on the Solar Wind Magnetosphere and Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission.

The ESA delegation reported that the SMILE mission has got the approval from the Council of Europe. SMILE Project Management Office reported the progress of the 8th SMILE Science Study Team Meeting. Both sides exchange the views on the issues of common concerns.

The 13th ESA-China Space Science Bilateral Meeting will be held in London in May. The two sides will engage in in-depth discussion about the progress of CAS-ESA cooperation and the cooperation in the future. The SMILE implementation agreement under the CAS-ESA cooperation framework will be signed during the meeting to finalize the cooperation and coordination mechanism.