SMAP Radiometer versus Radio Frequency Interference

  • Released Tuesday, January 27, 2015
  • Updated Wednesday, November 30, 2016 at 11:26AM
  • ID: 11743

The microwave radiometer on NASA's SMAP mission was designed and built at Goddard Space Flight Center to avoid unwanted radio frequency interference. Instrument Scientist Jeff Piepmeier explains how and why.

For complete transcript, click here.

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

The microwave radiometer on NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite was designed and built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Along with the microwave radar, data from the radiometer will be used to calculate the water content of Earth's soil.

All types of soil emit microwave radiation, but the amount of water changes how much of this energy is emitted. The drier the soil, the more microwave energy; the wetter the soil, the less energy.

But radio frequency interference is a problem, even though the instrument is passively listening in a region of the microwave spectrum where transmission is prohibited. Some of the signals from the surrounding regions leak into the protected "listen-only" band. Goddard engineers developed new hardware and software to search for and cut out the erroneous measurements.

For More Information

See NASA.gov

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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