ESA's water mission instrument passes test programme   SMOS payload undergoing testing in the Maxwell Facility at ESA-ESTEC, The Netherlands. The instrument, called MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis), consists of a central structure and three deployable arms. 69 antenna elements are equally distributed over the three arms and central structure. Each antenna arm is about 3.5 metres long.   From an altitude of 763 km, the SMOS antenna will view an area almost 3000 km in diameter. Because of the Y-shaped antenna and the interferometry measurement principle, the field-of-view is limited to a hexagon-like shape about 1000 km across.   SMOS payload undergoing testing in the Large Space Simulator at ESA-ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. A 'solar beam', six metres in diameter, was repeatedly shone onto instrument. The instrument was also subjected to low temperatures of deep space. These tests simulated the different intensities of solar radiation the satellite will experience in orbit.   First image taken by the SMOS instrument MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis) during testing in ESA-ESTEC.(Colour bar in Kelvin). Release date: 8 June 2009