ESA: SMOS ready for September launch

PARIS, May 28 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says its next Earth Explorer satellite is ready to be moved to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia for its Sept. 9 launch.

The satellite, called SMOS -- Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity-- will make global observations of soil moisture over Earth's landmasses and salinity over the oceans. It has been in storage at Thales Alenia Space's facilities in Cannes, France, awaiting completion of the ESA's Flight Acceptance Review -- a formal procedure that ensures all mission elements are in order and ready for launch.

"SMOS will provide global information on surface soil moisture every three days within an accuracy of 4 percent at a spatial resolution of (31 miles) -- comparable to being able to detect one teaspoonful of water mixed into a handful of soil," the ESA said.

The satellite will also compute a 30-day average of ocean salinity over an area approximately 125-by-125 miles. ESA scientists said that is about the same as detecting 1/10 of a gram of salt in a liter of water.

The space agency said data from the satellite will lead to a better understanding of the water cycle and, in particular, the exchange processes between Earth's surfaces and the atmosphere.