NASA and India’s ISRO have successfully launched the NISAR satellite mission, which will survey all of Earth’s land and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days. The mission aims to provide comprehensive, high-resolution radar imagery of the planet, capturing changes as small as a few centimeters.
NISAR, a radar imaging mission, carries two advanced synthetic aperture radar systems: NASA’s L-band radar and ISRO’s S-band radar. This allows scientists to track changes on Earth’s surface, including shifting tectonic plates, rising sea levels, glacial melt, deforestation, and infrastructure movement.
Unlike optical satellites, NISAR can penetrate clouds, smoke, and vegetation, making it ideal for continuous, all-weather, day and night monitoring. The satellite’s synthetic aperture radar system works by sending microwave pulses toward Earth and measuring how those signals scatter back, resulting in a finely detailed image of the planet’s surface.
NISAR will support climate science by measuring ice sheet dynamics, forest biomass, and soil moisture. It can also track crop cycles, flood impacts, and land subsidence from groundwater loss or heavy infrastructure. The satellite’s data will be freely available to researchers, governments, and the public worldwide.
The mission is a collaboration between NASA and ISRO, with operations expected to begin later this year and continue for at least three years. NISAR will be the first Earth-observing satellite to carry two advanced synthetic aperture radar systems, providing unprecedented insights into our planet’s changes over time.
Source: https://www.seti.org/news