NISAR Satellite Launch
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched their first joint weather satellite, NISAR, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
Key Features of NISAR
- Purpose: NISAR will track movements in polar ice, measure forest biomass, monitor wetlands, and observe changes in the earth’s crust.
- Global Asset: The data will be freely available to researchers and governments worldwide for climate research, disaster response, and natural resource management.
- Orbit and Duration: The satellite will orbit Earth for at least three years, scanning nearly all land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days.
- Technology: It is the world’s first radar imaging satellite to use both NASA’s L-band and ISRO’s S-band SAR technology.
Contributions and Capabilities
- NASA Contributions: Provided L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), telecommunication subsystem, GPS receivers, and a 12-metre unfurlable antenna.
- ISRO Contributions: Supplied the S-band SAR payload, spacecraft bus, GSLV-F16 launch vehicle, and launch services.
- Applications: Includes infrastructure monitoring, weather disaster response, sea ice classification, ship detection, storm tracking, crop mapping, and soil moisture changes.
Significance and Impact
- The satellite is valued at $1.5 billion, marking it as one of the most expensive weather satellites and a significant Indo-US space collaboration.
- It showcases the strength of ISRO and NASA’s scientific partnership, paving the way for future collaborations and involving the Indian private space sector.
- It is a game-changer for disaster management.
Overall, NISAR represents a landmark mission in international space collaboration, reinforcing the capabilities of ISRO and NASA in advancing earth observation.