ISRO-NASA NISAR mission to be launched in June

While the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch an all-weather satellite, EOS-09, on Sunday, the space agency said June would see the highly anticipated launch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite aboard GSLV-F16.

NISAR is a joint partnership between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ISRO. The mission will measure Earth’s changing ecosystems providing information about biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise and groundwater.

For the mission, NASA will provide engineering payloads for the mission, including a payload data subsystem, high-rate science downlink system, GPS receivers and a solid state recorder.

“ISRO offers the NISAR Utilisation Programme (NISAR UP), an opportunity for Indian researchers and scientists to access, analyse and interpret the data from the NISAR satellite mission,” ISRO said.

The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can provide important information to improve situational awareness and crisis response capabilities related to a range of issues, including maritime security, infrastructure health, natural disaster resilience and transportation. NISAR will offer vital data to observe and study Earth’s intricate processes. It aims to study ecosystems, cryosphere, solid earth science and coastal ocean processes to address global environmental changes and natural hazards. It supports disaster response by providing rapid access to relevant data.

The satellite was originally scheduled to be launched in the first half of 2024. However, the satellite that had been assembled largely in the US, arrived in Bengaluru in 2023 for final testing before being launched. It was found that antennae required improvements and the entire satellite was shipped back to the US. While no date has been confirmed, officials say the launch is in June.

India