An international effort to shut down radio signals that have occasionally been blocking the instrument on ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) water satellite is improving the quality of the mission’s data.The SMOS satellite carries a passive radiometer that operates in the 1400–1427 MHz frequency range (L-band) of the electromagnetic spectrum. It shows ‘brightness temperature’ that corresponds to microwave radiation emitted from Earth’s surface. From this information, the amount of moisture held in the surface layers of soil and salinity in the surface waters of the oceans.According to radio regulations set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), 1400–1427 MHz is alloted to the Earth Exploration Satellite Service, space research and radio astronomy; other transmissions in this band are prohibited.Soon after SMOS was launched, the data revealed there were many signals being transmitted within this protected passive band, rendering some of the data unusable for scientific purposes. The mission has not been reaching its full potential because significant amounts of data have had to be discarded.As a result of ESA’s strategies, 90 of these transmitters have been turned off. Most of these were in Europe but investigations continue in more than 35 countries worldwide.Learn more from Red Orbit.
European Space Agency Shuts Down Illegal Transmitters
