Photos: SMAP joins Delta 2 rocket

From weather forecasting to agricultural benefits, a new NASA mission launching this week will provide unprecedented resolution, accuracy and coverage of soil moisture on a world-wide basis every three days for the next three years.

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite blasts off aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket Saturday, launching into orbit on a three-year mission to measure moisture levels in Earth’s soils.

The Delta 2 rocket and the SMAP spacecraft passed the Flight Readiness Review today that assessed the progress of work and granted approval to proceed with loading the storable hypergolics into the second stage.