The NASA has launched a satellite into space that is capable of tracking the water that is in the mud that splashes under our feet like other existing forms of water (oceans, ice…). The name of the mission, which began on January 31 with the launch of the satellite, is SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive).
Thanks to this advance, researchers and decision makers will have more information about how the planet works. It will make it possible to know the state of soil moisture and will be usable both for making predictions and for detecting catastrophes such as floods or droughts.
But not only that, as a quality that differentiates it from other techniques, we find that it can recognize the state of the water in the mud, whether frozen or liquid, within a range of 3 kilometers wide. It will inform about the duration of the seasons of the year and the situation of carbon emissions, thus improving our knowledge about climate change. Undoubtedly a great advance that we wonder if in the future it could be used to see if there is water on other planets.