A Historic Collaboration
NISAR (NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) represents the first large-scale partnership of its kind between the Indian Space Research Organisation and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It's being hailed as the most expensive civilian Earth‑observation satellite ever built, with an estimated cost of $1.5 billion.
When and Where
Launch Date & Time: July 30, 2025 at 5:40 PM IST (8:10 AM EDT, NASA)
Launch Vehicle: ISRO’s GSLV‑F16 (Mk II) rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
Dual‑Radar Technology
The spacecraft carries two synthetic aperture radars:
S‑Band radar, built by ISRO in Ahmedabad.
L‑Band radar, built by NASA’s JPL in Southern California.
This dual‑frequency design allows NISAR to peer through clouds and vegetation, monitoring even millimetric changes in ground and ice surfaces.
Mission Capabilities & Science Goals
Will survey nearly all of Earth’s land and ice surfaces every 12 days, with spatial resolution ranging from 5–100 m, and measurement precision down to fractions of an inch.
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Key applications include:
Tracking changes in forest biomass, wetlands, agriculture, permafrost, and groundwater.
Monitoring ice sheets, sea ice, and glacial dynamics in polar regions.
Mapping land deformation caused by earthquakes, volcanism, subsidence, and other hazards.
Mission Timeline
1. Launch & Deployment: Launch aboard GSLV‑F16 on July 30, deployment of NISAR’s 12 m antenna reflector. from a 9 m boom after liftoff.
2. Commissioning Phase: Initial 90-day In-Orbit Checkout (IOC) to calibrate instruments and validate operations.
3. Science Phase: Full science operations with data streamed to global user community for up to 5 years of mission life.
Why It Matters
Disaster preparedness: NISAR can detect precursors to earthquakes, landslides, floods, and volcanic activity, offering critical early warning potential.
Climate science: Data will inform studies of greenhouse gas cycles, forest health, melting ice dynamics, and long-term carbon budget changes.
Global infrastructure planning: Governments and communities can use NISAR data to monitor urban subsidence, agricultural shifts, and water resources over time.
International cooperation blueprint: This project symbolizes a new era of scientific diplomacy through large-scale shared missions.
Launch Day Highlights
NASA is set to broadcast the launch live on NASA+ and its YouTube channel, starting around 8:10 AM EDT / 5:40 PM IST on July 30.
Media advisory by NASA underscores the mission’s global significance, with data aimed at serving scientists, policymakers, and disaster-management agencies alike.
In Summary
NISAR is poised to transform the way we monitor our planet by combining cutting-edge radar imaging, global data access, and scientific collaboration across continents. As it lifts off from India's spaceport later this week, Earth gets a powerful new eye in the sky.
