A short video animation demonstrating the SMAP spacecraft
PREVIEW
The SMAP antenna fully unfurled during testing in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility.
SMAP boom deployment animation
Promotional video for the NASA's Earth Campaign
The SMAP Observatory will be launched into Earth orbit aboard a Delta II rocket. The specific version of the Delta II used for SMAP employs two stages using liquid rocket engines, supplemented by three solid propellant rocket motors strapped to the first stage.
The first stage, along with its solid rocket motors, lift the vehicle out of the Earth’s lower atmosphere. The second stage steers the SMAP spacecraft into the correct orbit using its onboard guidance system.
The water cycle refers to the movement of water between different parts of the Earth’s environment, including the atmosphere, natural reservoirs such as oceans and lakes, and the soil and rock formations making up the Earth’s land surfaces.
Measurement loop geometry of a radar swath showing the field of view orientations at two azimuths. Vg is the observatory’s velocity vector.
A feature about the SMAP mission
Shows the swath path illustrating the scanning pattern of the antenna.
While pointed toward the sun, the Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, satellite separated from the Delta II upper stage as it was deployed into Earth orbit. Liftoff took place from Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 2 at 6:22 a.m. PST (9:22 a.m. EST).
An animation of the SMAP mission
Artist’s conception of SMAP taking data from orbit.
This chart provides an overview of mission events and operations during SMAP primary mission.
The figure shows standard deviation of the difference between satellite observations and ECMWF model values for ASCAT soil moisture (m3.m-3).
The deployable mesh reflector is offset from nadir and rotates about the nadir axis at 14.6 rpm, providing a conically scanning antenna beam with a surface incidence angle of 40°. The 6 m (20 foot) antenna is made of gold-coated mesh.
This conceptual diagram relates variation in regional domain-averaged soil moisture to variation in total crop yield.
The full extent of SMAP’s flight and ground operations from Launch through the end of the prime mission include data taking, ongoing calibration and validation of the data, and application of the data to a variety of fields.
The antenna reflector is a mesh antenna 6 meters (about 20 feet) in diameter.
SMAP antenna deployment animation
Accurate soil moisture information available from SMAP will improve the performance of numerical weather prediction models and seasonal climate models and enhance their predictive skill.
The colored curves demonstrate how the production of carbon from an ecosystem has changed over 25 years and how it varies over a year.
NASA held a media briefing at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) Thursday, Jan. 8, at NASA Headquarters in Washington to discuss the upcoming Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission.
NASA's SMAP and University of Texas scientists are rounding up critical soil information for managing the Lone Star State's limited water.
SMAP Observatory labeled and combined.
