Soil Moisture Active Passive

Soil Moisture Active Passive
An artist rendering of the Soil Moisture Active Passive spacecraft.
Mission typeEarth observation
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID2015-003A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.40376
Websitesmap.jpl.nasa.gov
Mission duration3 years (nominal) [1]
Elapsed: 9 years, 9 months, 7 days
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerJet Propulsion Laboratory
Launch mass944 kg
Payload mass79 kg
Dimensions1.5 x 0.9 x 0.9 m
Power1450 watts
Start of mission
Launch date31 January 2015, 14:22 (2015-01-31UTC14:22) UTC [2]
RocketDelta II 7320-10C [3]
Launch siteVandenberg, SLC-2W
ContractorUnited Launch Alliance
Entered serviceAugust 2015
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeSun-synchronous
Perigee altitude680.9 km
Apogee altitude683.5 km
Inclination98.12°
Period98.5 minutes
Epoch15 October 2019, 23:39:39 UTC[4]
An animation of SMAP's trajectory around Earth from 31 January 2015 to 19 August 2015:
  SMAP ·   Earth

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) is a NASA environmental monitoring satellite that measures soil moisture across the planet. It is designed to collect a global 'snapshot' of soil moisture every 2 to 3 days. With this frequency, changes from specific storms can be measured while also assessing impacts across seasons of the year.[5] SMAP was launched on 31 January 2015.[2] It was one of the first Earth observation satellites developed by NASA in response to the National Research Council's Decadal Survey.[6][7]

NASA invested US$916 million in the design, development, launch, and operations of the program.[8]

An early fault in a radar power supply limited the resolution of the radar data collected from 2015 onwards.

  1. ^ "SMAP Mission Brochure" (PDF). NASA.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-03-22. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "NASA SMAP "Here I go!!!!"". NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  3. ^ Ray, Justin (16 July 2012). "NASA gives the Delta 2 rocket a new lease on life". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  4. ^ "SMAP - Orbit". Heavens-Above. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  5. ^ "SMAP Mission Description". NASA JPL. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  6. ^ O'Neill, Peggy; et al. (2010). The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission: Overview. 30th IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. 25–30 July 2010. Honolulu, Hawaii. NASA. hdl:2060/20110015242.
  7. ^ "Decadal Survey". NASA. Archived from the original on 25 August 2009.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference NASA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).