--- description: NASA's orbiting spacecraft will measure soil moisture to help combat the effects of drought title: Check Out NASA's New 'Spinning Lasso' Spacecraft image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd578ab94ee4cad61/6987780f5f570f0348b1481a/smap20141230-browse_0.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Check Out NASA's New 'Spinning Lasso' Spacecraft by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 5, 2015 1:25 PM CUT  Artist's rendering of the SMAP instrument. Artist's rendering of the SMAP instrument.NASA by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 5, 2015 1:25 PM CUT A new [NASA research spacecraft](http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/smap/technology-innovations-spin-nasas-smap-into-space/index.html#.VKqIdWTF9Vj "undefined") scheduled for a late January launch will employ a “spinning lasso” to measure moisture in the Earth’s soil—from space. Dubbed the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), the instrument will employ radar, a radiometer and the largest rotating mesh antenna ever deployed in space. The fine mesh antenna dish, which has a diameter of 19.7 feet, transmits microwaves toward Earth that penetrate the soil and then rebound into space. “We call it the spinning lasso,” Wendy Edelstein of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. The antenna is attached to a mechanical arm on the spacecraft like a cowboy’s rope. The spacecraft can tell scientists how dramatic droughts will be in large swathes of farmland and help the agriculture industry recover from long dry spells. The SMAP will launch on Jan. 29 and orbit the Earth every three days or less. ### See the Most Beautiful Space Photos of 2014  NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array's first picture of the sun taken in high-energy X-rays released on Dec. 22, 2014. JPL-Caltech/GSFC/NASA  An infrared image of a small portion of the Monkey Head Nebula captured by the Hubble telescope released on March 17, 2014. NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team  NGC 4258 is a spiral galaxy well known to astronomers for having two so-called anomalous arms that glow in X-ray, optical and radio light. Chandra X-ray Observatory/CXC/Caltech/NASA  Eta Carinae is one of the most luminous known star systems in our galaxy seen here in this photo released on Aug. 26, 2014. 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NASA/Reuters  Astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on July 1, 2014 "Here is a #TodaySunrise from space for @MLauer" Reid Wiseman—NASA ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3653394/nasa-spinning-lasso-smap/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3653394/nasa-spinning-lasso-smap/"},"headline":"Check Out NASA's New 'Spinning Lasso' Spacecraft","datePublished":"2015-01-05T13:25:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:26.164Z","description":"The spacecraft can tell scientists how dramatic droughts will be","url":"https://time.com/3653394/nasa-spinning-lasso-smap/","keywords":["Space","space travel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd578ab94ee4cad61/6987780f5f570f0348b1481a/smap20141230-browse_0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd578ab94ee4cad61/6987780f5f570f0348b1481a/smap20141230-browse_0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NASA SMAP","caption":"NASA SMAP","creditText":"NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3653394/nasa-spinning-lasso-smap/","name":"Check Out NASA's New 'Spinning Lasso' Spacecraft"}}]}] ```