Historic NISAR Satellite: NASA-ISRO Joint Earth Observation Mission Set For July 30 Launch

The highly anticipated NISAR satellite, a collaborative Earth observation mission by NASA and ISRO, is set to launch on July 30 from Sriharikota.

NISAR Satellite (Photo: IANS)

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Earth observing satellite, a historic joint mission between the US and Indian space agencies, is scheduled to be launched on July 30 at 5:40 PM IST from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The satellite will be launched into a 743 km sun-synchronous orbit on board ISRO's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F16).

At a weight of 2,392 kg, NISAR has the potential to provide an unprecedented, high-resolution snapshot of our world. It is the first satellite to ever look at Earth in two different radar frequencies: NASA's L-band and ISRO's S-band. This dual-frequency ability enables NISAR to penetrate cloud cover and forest cover, generating high-resolution information day and night, in any weather. Every band is responsive to various surface characteristics, allowing complete measurement of moisture content, roughness, and small movements.

NASA states, "Every system's signal responds to various sizes of features on Earth's surface, and each is best at measuring different properties, like moisture content, surface roughness, and motion." The engineering achievement of combining two dissimilar radar systems, needing distinct hardware, onto one satellite without interference while guaranteeing complementary function is a result of more than a decade of close technical collaboration between ISRO and NASA/JPL teams.

NISAR's advanced capabilities will enable it to detect changes as small as one centimeter in size during its repeated observations, scanning the entire globe every 12 days. This will be crucial for studying dynamic processes on Earth's surface, including:

• Glacier retreat and sea ice movement
• Storm paths and changes in vegetation/forest cover
• Movements during earthquakes and volcanic activity

Researchers expect NISAR to deliver unprecedented insights into events such as climate change and natural disasters, greatly improving our capacity to anticipate and respond to them. It also has practical uses for monitoring soil moisture variations and mapping surface water elevations.

Touted to cost approximately USD 1.5 billion, with ISRO paying about Rs 469.4 crores, NISAR is one of the costliest Earth observation satellites in the world. The launch cost will be borne by the Indian space agency as well.

The mission has faced a number of delays, among them one last year because of some technical problems necessitating a key element, a 12-meter unfurlable antenna, to be returned to the United States for repairs. Now that all the preparations are complete, the joint mission is ready for its historic launch.