Video: Preparing Delta 2 and SMAP for flight

Engineers have so far been unable to restart a balky radar aboard NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive environmental satellite launched in January, robbing scientists of the most detailed maps of how much water is locked up in the top layers of Earth’s land masses.

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.

This photo gallery shows NASA’s SMAP spacecraft arriving at the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base’s Space Launch Complex 2 and being hoisted atop the United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket.