New Delhi: India will launch the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite today at 5:40 PM IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Developed jointly by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the satellite will lift off aboard the GSLV Mk II, India’s three-stage launch vehicle.
The NISAR satellite, weighing approximately 2,392 kg, is designed to monitor minute changes on the Earth’s surface using dual-band synthetic aperture radar systems. NASA has developed the L-band radar, while ISRO has contributed the S-band radar. The mission will provide consistent, high-resolution data regardless of weather or lighting conditions, capturing detailed observations every 12 days.
Scientists expect NISAR to support a range of Earth science and disaster management applications, including monitoring of earthquakes, landslides, glacier movements, and deforestation. The satellite will also provide critical data on agricultural patterns and ice sheet dynamics, particularly in remote regions such as Antarctica.
Following launch, the satellite will undergo a 65-day engineering and calibration phase to ensure all systems are functioning as planned. This will be followed by full-scale operational deployment.
The mission, nearly a decade in the making, marks the first hardware collaboration between ISRO and NASA. Earlier delays were attributed to technical issues with the satellite’s antenna system, which have since been resolved. Viewers can watch the live launch on ISRO and NASA’s official platforms.
