NASA reports that its SMAP (Soil Moisture Active and Passive) spacecraft has a serious technical issue. On 7 July 2015, at about 2116 GMT, the main radar on its SMAP mission spacecraft halted its transmissions. All other components of the spacecraft continued to operate normally, including the radiometer instrument that is collecting science data. Engineers are investigating the issue. The SMAP mission makes water and flood analysis of the Earth.
The spacecraft carries a 6m antenna equipped scanning SAR – Synthetic Aperture Radar and an L-band radiometer to detect moisture content and detect ice.
