Rocket blasts off carrying NASA satellite that will help improve weather forecasts
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An unmanned Delta 2 rocket lifted off from California on Saturday carrying a NASA satellite to measure how much water is in Earth's soil, information that will help weather forecasting and tracking of global climate change.
The tiny amount of soil moisture links the planet's overall environmental systems - its water, energy and carbon cycles - as well as determines whether particular regions are afflicted with drought or flooding.
'It's the metabolism of the system,' NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory lead scientist Dara Entekhabi said before the rocket blasted off.
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The unmanned Delta 2 rocket lifted off from California on Saturday carrying a NASA satellite to measure how much water is in Earth's soil
The information gathered by the satellite - perched on top of the rocket - will help weather forecasting and tracking of global climate change
The tiny amount of soil moisture links the planet's overall environmental systems and will also determine whether particular regions are affected by drought or flooding
The 127-foot (39 meter) rocket, built and flown by United Launch Alliance, blasted off at 6:22 a.m. PST (14.22 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, located on California's central coast, a live NASA Television broadcast showed.
The launch had been delayed a day by high winds and a second day to make minor repairs on the rocket's insulation.
Perched on top on the rocket was NASA's 2,100-pound (950 kg) SMAP, which will spend at least three years measuring the amount of water in the top two inches of Earth's soil.
The 127-foot (39 meter) rocket, built and flown by United Launch Alliance, blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, located on California's central coast
The satellite will be NASA's first designed to collect global observations of Earth's surface soil moisture and the planet's freeze and thaw state
The data will be used to enhance scientists' understanding of the processes that link Earth's water, energy and carbon cycles
Overall, soil moisture accounts for less than one percent of the planet's total water reservoir, with 97 percent in the planet's oceans and nearly all of the rest locked in ice, said Entekhabi, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Currently, scientists rely largely on computer models to account for soil moisture.
But from its orbital perch 426 miles (685 km) above Earth, SMAP has two microwave instruments to collect actual soil moisture measurements everywhere on Earth and update the measurements every two-to-three days.
Including the launch and three years of operations, the mission is costing NASA $916 million.
A worker preparing the launch gantry to be rolled back from the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket before launch
Workers had extra days to inspect the rocket because the launch had been delayed a day by high winds and then a second day to make minor repairs on the rocket's insulation
Photographers worked long into the night getting their cameras ready for the spectacular launch
Staff are silhouetted against the rocket as they use the extra days of delay for inspection
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