The activation of Son-of-Sevenless (SOS) at the membrane. SOS is initially recruited to the membrane by adaptor proteins, such as Grb2, that bind to activated cell-surface receptors. Once a single molecule of SOS is activated allosterically by Ras•GTP (guanosine triphosphate) at the membrane, many more Ras molecules can then be activated processively by that SOS molecule, even if it were to disengage from the receptor. GDP, Guanosine diphosphate.