SMOS ready to ship to launch site   ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission will provide global maps of soil moisture and ocean salinity. Soil moisture data are urgently required for hydrological studies; data on ocean salinity are vital for improving our understanding of ocean circulation patterns. Together, these data will contribute to furthering our knowledge of Earth’s water cycle, and help to improve climate, weather and extreme-event forecasting.   ESA's Inspector General Peter Dubock – first of the three Flight Acceptance Review Board's Chairmen to sign the 'consent to ship' documentation following the successful completion of the SMOS Mission Flight Acceptance Review.   The SMOS satellite in the cleanroom at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France on 24 April 2009. The satellite, which has just come out of storage, will soon be prepared for shipment to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. The three antenna arms, which form the measuring instrument are currently folded up but once launched they unfold into a Y-shape. The instrument that carries 69 separate antenna-receivers which measure radiation emitted from Earth at L-band where the frequency is about 1.4 GHz/21 cm wavelength to derive information on soil moisture and ocean salinity.   SMOS Flight Acceptance Review (FAR) Board members and observers at ESA-ESTEC in the Netherlands on 20 May 2009 Release date: 5 October 2009