ESA Earth-Monitor Launch In September
Michael A. Taverna/Paris
Europe's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, intended to measure concentrations of moisture in soil and salt in the oceans, has been scheduled for a September 9 launch aboard a Rockot booster.
The mission -- the second in the European Space Agency's (ESA) Earth Explorer series -- had been expected to lift off in July, but the slot was apparently needed for an unidentified Russian government launch.
To be orbited together with ESA's Proba 2 experimental telecom spacecraft, SMOS will carry a microwave imaging radiometer, dubbed Miras, that will provide full Earth maps every three days, providing important data on the water cycle, ocean circulation and long-term weather and climate change.
SMOS will use an interferometric synthetic aperture radiometer, which takes up less space and is less costly than the real-aperture L-band antenna featured on the NASA-Argentine Aquarius ocean surface salinity mission to be launched in 2010, or NASA's SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) mission, to be orbited in 2012.
SMOS's 69 antennas, measuring 20 centimeters (8 inches) in diameter, will afford a spatial resolution of 50 kilometers (30 miles).
The 360 kilogram (790-pound) 400W instrument was developed by EADS CASA of Spain. It will ride on a French Proteus bus supplied by Thales Alenia Space. Proteus has already been used for the Jason 1 and 2 altimetry missions, the Calipso A-Train spacecraft and the Corot planet-finding mission.
The mission is a major step in Spain's goal of becoming a major player in the European space program, and an important center of Earth observation know-how. The country is contributing 70 million euros ($90 million) toward SMOS's 335 million euro pricetag, either directly or through ESA. France is providing 105 million euros, including the in-kind Proteus contribution.
Late last year, Spain committed to building a pair of homegrown imaging satellites -- Ingenio and Paz. The 2.5-meter resolution Ingenio optical imaging spacecraft could serve as a replacement for the medium-resolution capability on Spot 5. Both Ingenio and Paz, a submetric radar imaging spacecraft, are to be launched in 2013.
Photo credit: ESA
