NASA's SMAP to Help Farmers Improve Plant Growth and Agricultural Productivity

NASA's SMAP instrument will be sent into space in late January, with hopes of providing valuable soil moisture data to agriculturalists.
NASA's SMAP instrument will be sent into space in late January, with hopes of providing valuable soil moisture data to agriculturalists.

NASA has announced that its Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) instrument will be launched into space on Jan. 29. SMAP will measure the moisture present in the Earth’s soils, which can potentially warn agriculturalists of droughts before they occur. Sustained drought has been linked to crop failure and livestock death.

Supporting Agriculture

Through SMAP, information on soil moisture will help improve crop yield forecasts and irrigation planning around the world. Earlier drought warnings may also prevent devastation in the farming industry.

In 2012, a severe drought in the Midwest resulted in harvest failures that totaled around $30 billion.

Currently, a drought is still impacting key farming areas of California. As of late, rice farmers have seen low production as a result of the poor conditions, according to AG Professional.

A Closer Look at SMAP

The main parts of SMAP include a radar, a radiometer and a rotating mesh antenna. SMAP engineers built the largest rotating antenna that could be stowed into a space of 1 foot by 4 feet for launch. The dish itself is 19.7 feet in diameter.

"Making sure we don't have snags, that the mesh doesn't hang up on the supports and tear when it's deploying -- all of that requires very careful engineering," said Wendy Edelstein, SMAP instrument manager. "We test, and we test, and we test some more. We have a very stable and robust system now."

Assuming the SMAP project goes according to plan, both scientists and farmers are set to gain critical information in the form of more detailed moisture maps.

“SMAP can help in the prediction of the dramatic drought,” Narendra Das, NASA water and carbon cycle scientist, told the America Herald. “These data can further assist the farmers plan their recovery from drought.”

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech