NASA satellite launched to monitor global soil moisture

NASA satellite launched to monitor global soil moisture

Real-time data will now be part of drought and flood predictions.

The United States’ space agency successfully launched the Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP) from Vandenberg Air Force base on central California’s coast Saturday morning. Monitoring of the relative levels of moisture in Earth’s topsoil is the intent, assisting scientists in creating better predictions of droughts, floods and other weather metrics.

Officials with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said the flawless launch atop a “workhorse” Delta II rocket saw the deployment of solar arrays 430 miles above the planet. Flight staff will work the next two weeks testing two onboard instruments that will measure soil moisture to produce global, high-resolution maps.

Once orbit was achieved, the perfect liftoff sequence was described by NASA’s launch director Tim Dunn as “spectacular … Everything looks great.” Mission project manager Kent Kellogg said the launch was a “terrific ride into space.”

The three-year mission of the satellite will record the amount of water in the planet’s soil. Such data could help people living in low-elevation areas prepare for floods and assist farms in advance of drought conditions.

SMAP detects the amount of moisture present in the top two inches (5 centimeters) of Earth’s soil. The launch was first set for a couple days before but was delayed by high winds. A required repair then delayed liftoff another day.

SMAP’s 20-foot diameter rotating antenna is the largest humans have yet to put in space. It will collect information to create an every-three-day map of topsoil moisture. It is the last of five Earth-watching satellites originally scheduled by NASA for launch in 2014.

Generally, SMAP will help predict where droughts and floods might occur. NASA administrator Charles Bolden said SMAP will “be incredibly important” because it will enable views into freeze / thaw cycles as well as a better understanding of the carbon dioxide cycle,” a contributor to climate change.

The science team leader of the mission, Dara Entekhabi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said SMAP will “peer into the metabolism of the environment.” She and her team will use the acquired data to get a better understanding of Earth’s major interconnected cycles — those of carbon, energy and water. Achieving this will help create weather maps and predictions with better accuracy.

NASA’s deputy associate administrator for programs, Geoffery Yoder, said that the additional understanding of Earth’s systems will be “a boon for emergency planners and policy makers.” Indeed, flash flood advisories and drought maps are currently based on computer modeling, or best-guess predictions. SMAP, however, will add the advantage of real-time measurements integrated into such forecasts.

The $916 million mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It will join a fleet of 19 other Earth-viewing satellites currently monitoring Earth’s condition.

Besides SMAP, the Delta II NASA launch also carried aloft three nano-satellites,  one each for JPL, California Polytechnic State University and Montana State University. The tiny CubeSats were designed and constructed by more than 100 university students.

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