A short video animation demonstrating the SMAP spacecraft
PREVIEW
This conceptual diagram relates variation in regional domain-averaged soil moisture to variation in total crop yield.
A preview of the what's to come from SMAP
A feature about the SMAP mission
The figure shows standard deviation of the difference between satellite observations and ECMWF model values for ASCAT soil moisture (m3.m-3).
In order to achieve large coverage on the ground the antenna spins at 14.6 revolutions per minute (one revolution every 4 seconds).
The USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) has launched a web-based U.S. crop vegetation condition assessment and monitoring application: VegScape (http://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/VegScape/).
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.
The antenna reflector is a mesh antenna 6 meters (about 20 feet) in diameter.
Shows the swath path illustrating the scanning pattern of the antenna.
SMAP boom deployment animation
SMAP Observatory labeled and combined.
This video tells the stories of SMAP Applications Early Adopters (post-launch update).
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.
NASA doesn’t study just the stars and planets; it is also concerned with the soil beneath your feet. Studying the moisture in the top two inches of the soil from space with a satellite named "SMAP" can help weather forecasters predict flash floods, farmers grow more crops, and communities plan for drought.
Measurement loop geometry of a radar swath showing the field of view orientations at two azimuths. Vg is the observatory’s velocity vector.
A simple illustration of the major elements of the energy cycle is shown in the figure.
SMAP is designed to collect measurements of surface soil moisture and freeze/thaw state, together termed the hydrosphere state.
Two views of the SMAP Observatory, showing the Instrument (upper portion) and Spacecraft (lower portion) with the large antenna and solar array stowed for launch. This compact shape is needed to fit comfortably inside the launch vehicle’s protective fairing.
This image the swath size cut by the RADAR and radiometer on SMAP.
An animated video about NASA's SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) mission.
Promotional video for the NASA's Earth Campaign
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.
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.
An animation that shows how SMAP gathers data.
