NASA-ISRO NISAR Satellite Launch and Its Importance

• Joint mission of NASA and ISRO, a sophisticated earth-observation satellite.

• First major earth-observing mission with dual-band radar.

• Costs over $1.5 billion, one of the most expensive earth-observing satellites.

• Science and application goals span six areas: solid earth processes, ecosystems, ice dynamics, coastal and ocean processes, disaster response, and additional applications.

• Data policy ensures free availability of NISAR data to all users.

• Launched into a sun-synchronous polar orbit at 747 km altitude and 98.4º inclination.

• Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) will bounce radar waves off the planet’s surface and measure signal duration and phase changes.

• SAR can transmit and receive radar signals with horizontal or vertical polarisation.

• SAR scans an ultra-wide 240 km swath width, producing annual maps of aboveground woody biomass and quarterly maps of active and inactive cropland.

• NASA and ISRO agreed to contribute equivalent-scale hardware, expertise, and funding.

• Mission will lift off from Sriharikota onboard a GSLV Mk-II rocket.