The satellite will map water hidden in the top 2 inches (5 centimeters) of our planet's soils, frozen and thawed lands

Jan 19, 2015 07:44 GMT  ·  By

As it turns out, NASA scientists have a busy end of the month ahead of them. On January 26, they'll get to study a freakishly big asteroid as it buzzes by our planet, and just a few days later, they will launch a new satellite.

This satellite that is scheduled to take to the skies this coming January 29 will serve to map water hidden in the topmost layer of Earth's soils, as well as frozen and thawed patched of land across the globe.

The researchers behind this mission, dubbed SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive), explain that data obtained with the help of the satellite they will launch later this month will help better understand the planet's weather and climate.

The upcoming satellite launch will be one for the books

The satellite that NASA wishes to launch as part of its SMAP mission will launch from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, a US Air Force Base located close to the city of Lompoc in California. As mentioned, the satellite will leave Earth on January 29.

In a report detailing this mission, scientists explain that the SMAP satellite will launch from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California nestled atop a United Launch Delta II rocket and will hopefully manage to position itself in a near-polar orbit.

More precisely, the SMAP satellite should begin to orbit our planet at an altitude of about 426 miles (approximately 685 kilometers). Should things go as planned, this latest NASA mission will be ongoing for three years to come.

What exactly will NASA's SMAP satellite do while in orbit?

It is understood that, once positioned in Earth's orbit, the SMAP satellite will get to work documenting the water content of the top 2 inches (5 centimeters) of our planet's soils. It will also collect information concerning frozen and thawed lands all across the world, Science Daily informs.

The researchers behind this mission explain that the reason they want to know more about soil moisture and how it influences freshwater cycles over land surfaces is that, in turn, these freshwater cycles influence our planet's weather and climate.

“With data from SMAP, scientists and decision makers around the world will be better equipped to understand how Earth works as a system and how soil moisture impacts a myriad of human activities, from floods and drought to weather and crop yield forecasts.”

“SMAP's global soil moisture measurements will provide a new capability to improve our understanding of Earth's climate,” explains Christine Bonniksen, SMAP program executive with the Science Mission Directorate's Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

To map how much water soils across the world contain, NASA's SMAP satellite will rely on an active radar that will transmit microwave pulses towards the ground and measure how much of this signal is reflected and sent back its way, and a passive radiometer that will only capture microwave radiation.

Working together, the active radar and the passive radiometer, which will rely on an antenna to collect their data, should produce an accurate coverage of soil moisture, and thawed and frozen lands across the globe at certain times of the year once every two to three days, scientists say.

Artist's impression of the SMAP satellite
Artist's impression of the SMAP satellite

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A new satellite will take to the skies on January 29
Artist's impression of the SMAP satellite
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