SMAP (Soil Moisture Active and Passive) is a proposed scientific mission that would provide global mapping of Earth soil moisture and freeze/thaw state. The proposed SMAP Observatory would accommodate two primary Instruments - L-band (1.26 GHz) Radar and L-band (1.4 GHz) Radiometer on one spacecraft. Both instruments would share a 14.6 RPM spinning Antenna System with a 6m diameter deployable Reflector and a common RF Feed. The key challenge for the Observatory configuration is in meeting the needs of the science and the supporting subsystems (many of which have stringent demands as well) and ensuring that the spacecraft could meet all operational, pointing, environmental, and launch vehicle requirements. This paper describes the continuing evolution of the proposed SMAP Observatory configuration, the challenges of balancing the conflicting requirements, and the major configuration driving decisions and compromises.
SMAP Observatory concept — A configuration of compromises
2011-03-01
4241621 byte
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
NTRS | 2013
|NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory
IEEE | 2013
|NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Observatory
NTRS | 2013
|