Talk:Soil Moisture Active Passive

Primary sources tag - 2014 - removed
I noted this page has a "reliance on primary sources" banner. I'd like to throw out the suggestion that it may not be necessary.
 * Currently, there are three distinct types of sources for this article: a news article, academic papers, and NASA websites.
 * The news article and the academic papers (assuming peer reviewed) aren't primary sources, so,
 * Do we really consider NASA websites to be primary sources? I would imagine the website's editors are NASA Public Relations, as opposed to persons directly involved in mission/spacecraft development.

Welcoming thoughts, comments and suggestions. Cheers! Skyraider1 (talk) 01:00, 24 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Hearing no opinions on the matter almost a week later, I'm going to go ahead and remove the banner. Cheers! Skyraider1 (talk) 00:53, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Requested move 4 March 2015

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: No consensus to move. &mdash; Amakuru (talk) 21:06, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

Soil Moisture Active Passive → SMAP (satellite) – It appears that the vessel is typically referred to by the name SMAP rather then by its formal (full) name. I think this move is consistent with guidance at Article titles. --Relisted.  Sunrise    (talk)  19:46, 21 March 2015 (UTC) User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 02:53, 4 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Oppose While NASA often speaks in acronyms, it would seem more consistent with existing naming conventions to have the actual article title be fully spelled out (see Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, nearly always called TDRSS in NASA documents). This in part helps avoid the over-use and re-use of acronyms that happens so often in the government.  I do think the redirect and disambiguation page are serving their proper function.  1bandsaw (talk) 04:45, 4 March 2015 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Radar payload troubleshooting
Reports are starting to emerge of troubles with the radar payload:

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/08/10/nasa-troubleshoots-radar-outage-on-new-smap-satellite/

Depending on how things unfold, the article may need to be updated accordingly. Cheers! Skyraider1 (talk) 01:15, 11 August 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅. You guys are right. I don't know how I missed it before. Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 04:11, 11 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Perhaps it can be useful to make a section on the two scientific instruments? The radiometer seems to be working, but I collects "coarser measurements of soil moisture." BatteryIncluded (talk) 04:17, 11 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I think that's what the "system characteristics" section is trying to be....but there's certainly room for expansion/more detail. Cheers! Skyraider1 (talk) 01:29, 12 August 2015 (UTC)

This article really needs a rewrite, from the top down, now that the active sensor (the radar) has failed. Resolution is down from 3m to 40m, and it can't do the job it was designed to do, which involved using both sensors in tandem to vastly improve resolution. NASA seems to be trying to minimize the problem and is looking to supplement the passive sensor with radar data from a European satellite, but the system only works if the measurements are taken very close in time. See http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/03/us-space-nasa-satellite-idUSKCN0R32D120150903 and http://spacenews.com/nasa-focused-on-sentinel-as-replacement-for-smap-radar/ Sprucegrouse (talk) 21:37, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Could describe the spacecraft
Could describe the spacecraft (that hosts the instruments) as done with other science probes. eg. the bus, if any, it is built on and the avionics within, eg what JPL flight computer for C&DH, maybe using RAD750, but similar to that for Psyche. - Rod57 (talk) 09:38, 28 April 2023 (UTC)