Stephen Cole, public affairs officer at NASA Headquarters, moderates a media briefing about the upcoming launch of the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, Thursday, Jan. 08, 2015, at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. The mission is scheduled for a Jan. 29 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and will provide the most accurate, highest-resolution global measurements of soil moisture ever obtained from space. The data will be used to enhance scientists' understanding of the processes that link Earth's water, energy and carbon cycles. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignan

---

Stephen Cole, public affairs officer at NASA Headquarters, moderates a media briefing about the upcoming launch of the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, Thursday, Jan. 08, 2015, at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. The mission is scheduled for a Jan. 29 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and will provide the most accurate, highest-resolution global measurements of soil moisture ever obtained from space. The data will be used to enhance scientists' understanding of the processes that link Earth's water, energy and carbon cycles.

---

Size: 3237px × 4863px
Photo credit: © NG Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 08, 29, 2015, active, affairs, air, aubrey, auditorium, briefing, cole, dc, dc., force, gemignani, headq, headquarters, hq, jan., launch, media, mission, moderates, moderator, moisture, nasa, officer, passive, public, scheduled, smap, soil, stephen, thursday, upcoming, usa, vandenberg, washington