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Soil Moisture Active Passive

Soil Moisture Active Passive
SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) satellite.jpg
Artist rendition of SMAP
Mission type Environmental
Operator NASA
COSPAR ID 2015-003A
SATCAT № 40376
Website smap.jpl.nasa.gov
Mission duration 3 years
Start of mission
Launch date 31 January 2015, 14:22 (2015-01-31UTC14:22Z) UTC
Rocket Delta II 7320-10C
Launch site Vandenberg SLC-2W
Contractor United Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Sun-synchronous
Perigee 688.4 km (427.8 mi)
Apogee 690.7 km (429.2 mi)
Inclination 98.12 degrees
Period 98.4 minutes
Epoch 9 May 2015, 02:10:00 UTC

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) is an American environmental research satellite launched on 31 January 2015. It was one of the first Earth observation satellites developed by NASA in response to the National Research Council’s Decadal Survey.

SMAP will provide measurements of the land surface soil moisture and freeze-thaw state with near-global revisit coverage in 2–3 days. SMAP surface measurements will be coupled with hydrologic models to infer soil moisture conditions in the root zone. These measurements will enable science applications users to:

SMAP observations will be acquired for a period of at least three years after launch. A comprehensive validation, science, and applications program will be implemented, and all data will be made available publicly through the NASA archive centers.

The SMAP observatory includes a dedicated spacecraft and instrument suite in a near-polar, Sun-synchronous orbit. The SMAP measurement system consists of a radiometer (passive) instrument and a synthetic aperture radar (active) instrument operating with multiple polarizations in the L-band range. The combined active and passive measurement approach takes advantage of the spatial resolution of the radar and the sensing accuracy of the radiometer.

The active and passive sensors provide coincident measurements of the surface emission and backscatter. The instruments sense conditions in the top 5 cm of soil through moderate vegetation cover to yield globally mapped estimates of soil moisture and its freeze-thaw state.

The satellite carries two scientific instruments: a radar and a radiometer, that share a single feed and deployable 6m reflector antenna system that rotates around the nadir axis making conical scans of the surface. The wide swath provides near-global revisit every 2–3 days.

SMAP is a directed mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA. The SMAP project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL, with participation by the Goddard Space Flight Center GSFC. SMAP builds on the heritage and risk reduction activities of NASA's cancelled ESSP Hydros Mission.


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