Two NASA pathfinding missions were recently deployed into low-Earth orbit, where they are demonstrating novel technologies for observing atmospheric gases, measuring freshwater, and even detecting signs of potential volcanic eruptions. The Signals of Opportunity P-Band Investigation (SNoOPI), a low-noise radio receiver, tests a new technique for measuring root-zone soil moisture by harnessing radio signals produced by commercial satellites — a big job for a 6U CubeSat the size of a shoebox. Separately, the Hyperspectral Thermal Imager (HyTI) is measuring trace gases linked to volcanic eruption…