SMAP

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SMAP is classified as:

Space & Earth Science

NORAD ID: 40376

Int'l Code: 2015-003A

Launch date: January 31, 2015
Source: United States (US)
Launch site: AIR FORCE WESTERN TEST RANGE (AFWTR)

SMAP is NASA's 1st Earth observing satellite designed to make high resolution global observations of Earth's vital surface soil moisture content and freeze/thaw cycle just below your feet. It will aid global forecasting and have broad applications for science and society. SMAP's combined radar and radiometer instruments will peer into the top 2 inches (5 centimeters) of soil, through clouds and moderate vegetation cover, day and night, to produce the highest-resolution, most accurate soil moisture maps ever obtained from space. SMAP is projected to last for at least a three year primary mission. SMAP will provide high-resolution, space-based measurements of soil moisture and its state—frozen or thawed—a new capability that will allow scientists to better predict natural hazards of extreme weather, climate change, floods and droughts, and help reduce uncertainties in our understanding of Earth's water, energy and carbon cycles, according to a NASA description. The mission will map the entire globe every two to three days for at least three years and provide the most accurate and highest-resolution maps of soil moisture ever obtained. The spacecraft's final circular polar orbit will be 426 miles (685 kilometers), at an inclination of 98.1 degrees. The spacecraft will orbit Earth once every 98.5 minutes and repeat the same ground track every eight days.