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We present a determination of the cosmic microwave background dipole amplitude and direction from the COBE Di erential Microwave Radiometers (DMR) rst year of data. Data from the six DMR channels are consistent with a Dopplershifted Planck function of dipole amplitude T = 3:365 0:027 mK toward direction (l II ; b II ) = (264:4 0:3 ; 48:4 0:5 ). The implied velocity of the Local Group with respect to the CMB rest frame isṽ LG = 627 22 km s 1 toward (l II ; b II ) = (276 3 ; 30 3 ). DMR has also mapped the dipole anisotropy resulting from the Earth's orbital motion about the Solar system barycenter, yielding a measurement of the monopole CMB temperature T 0 at 31.5, 53, and 90 GHz, T 0 = 2:75 0:05 K. Subject headings: cosmic microwave background | cosmology: observations 2

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We present an analysis of simultaneous multifrequency measurements of the Galactic emission in the 1È10 GHz range with 18¡ angular resolution taken from a high-altitude site. Our data yield a determination of the synchrotron spectral index between 1.4 and 7. with frequency based on our results and compared with other data found in the literature b syn suggests a steepening of the synchrotron spectrum toward high frequencies, as expected from theory because of the steepening of the parent cosmic-ray electron energy spectrum. Comparison between the Haslam data and the 19 GHz map of Cottingham also indicates a spatial variation of the spectral index on large angular scales. Additional high-quality data are necessary to provide a serious study of these e †ects.

The Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) L-band microwave radiometer is a conical scanning instrument designed to measure soil moisture with 4% volumetric accuracy at 40-km spatial resolution. SMAP is NASA's first Earth Systematic Mission developed in response to its first Earth science decadal survey. Here, the design is reviewed and the results of its first year on orbit are presented. Unique features of the radiometer include a large 6-m rotating reflector, fully polarimetric radiometer receiver with internal calibration, and radio-frequency interference detection and filtering hardware. The radiometer electronics are thermally controlled to achieve good radiometric stability. Analyses of on-orbit results indicate that the electrical and thermal characteristics of the electronics and internal calibration sources are very stable and promote excellent gain stability. Radiometer NEDT < 1 K for 17-ms samples. The gain spectrum exhibits low noise at frequencies >1 MHz and 1/f noise rising at longer time scales fully captured by the Piepmeier et al.