The SMOS mission led by ESA, in partnership with France and Spain, was launched on 2 November 2009. Built around a Proteus bus, carrying 69 sensors and spanning 8 metres, the SMOS satellite is set to deliver new insight for scientists into climate change over time and enable them to gauge its extent, SMOS will construct the first-evera global map of soil moisture and ocean salinity with unprecedented sensitivity.

A closer knowledge of ocean salinity and its variations will help us to identify and track ocean currents like the Gulf Stream, which play a key role in climate change, and to probe the role of oceans in the carbon cycle.

Measurements of soil moisture will increase the accuracy of weather forecasts, allowing us to better manage our planet’s water resources. Analysing interactions between soil moisture and changes in vegetation cover through evaporation and infiltration will complement these data, providing new material for current research into photosynthesis.

^{Last updated: September 2010}