Cryospheric Sciences

Soil Moisture Active-Passive Mission (SMAP)

Class:

Flight Project

Status:

Operational

Organizations:

Launch Date:

January 2015

WEBSITE:

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is an orbiting observatory that measures the amount of water in the surface soil everywhere on Earth. It was launched in January 2015 and started operation in April 2015. The SMAP radiometer has been operating flawlessly. The radar instrument, ceasing operation in early 2015 due to failure of radar power supply, collected close to 3 months of science data. The prime mission phase of three years was completed in 2018, and since then SMAP has been in extended operation phase.

Key Staff
    Artist's concept of SMAP in orbit