ESA - SMOS - SMOS forms three-pointed star in the sky

SMOS at a glance

An Earth Explorer Mapping soil moisture and ocean salinity Improving our understanding of the water cycle Introducing a novel use of technology Facts and figures

About the satellite

Platform Instrument

About the launch

Launch site Launcher

SMOS in orbit

After liftoff Data

Meet the team

Achim Hahne, Project Manager Susanne Mecklenburg, Mission Manager Matthias Drusch, Mission Scientist Jordi Font, Co-Lead Investigator Yann Kerr, Co-Lead Investigator Manuel Martin-Neira, Instrument Principal Engineer Guillermo Buenadicha, Payload Operations Engineer Andrés Borges, EADS CASA Espacio Payload Project Manager Roger Jegou, Launch Campaign Manager Norrie Wright, Payload Data Ground Segment Manager

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SMOS forms three-pointed star in the sky

3 November 2009

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The SMOS mission makes global observations of soil moisture over Earth’s landmasses and salinity over the oceans. Variations in soil moisture and ocean salinity are a consequence of the continuous exchange of water between the oceans, the atmosphere and the land – Earth’s water cycle.

Credits: ESA/AOES Medialab

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Carried on the SMOS satellite, the MIRAS instrument consists of a central structure and three deployable arms, each of which has three segments. During launch, these arms are folded-up. Just over 36 hours after SMOS has been injected into orbit, the arms are gently deployed.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

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Mission Control at the French space agency CNES, in Toulouse, France, received confirmation that the MIRAS antennas had deployed on 3 November 2009.

Credits: CNES

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To measure the moisture in soil and salt in the oceans, SMOS has borrowed techniques used in radio astronomy. The 69 small antennas carried on the instrument's Y-shaped arms and central hub use 'aperture synthesis' or 'interferometry' to mimic a much larger antenna - similar to the way the Very Large Array works in Socorro, New Mexico, US.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

SMOS launch

Replay the launch