NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Satellite Launch

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite on a geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV).

• The satellite, weighing 2,392-kg, will be injected into a 743-km sun-synchronous orbit.

• The satellite will be the first to observe the earth with a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR) — NASA’s L-band and the ISRO’s S-band — using NASA’s 12-metre unfurlable mesh reflector antenna, integrated with ISRO’s modified I3K satellite bus.

• The mission will observe earth with a swathe of 242km and high spatial resolution, using the SweepSAR technology for the first time.

• The satellite will provide all-weather, day-and-night data at 12-day intervals, enabling a wide range of applications.

• The NISAR mission is divided into launch, deployment, commissioning, and science phases.