In an unprecedented collaboration, the United States and India's space agencies are working together on the hardware for an Earth observation mission.
NASA and ISRO are finalizing the NISAR satellite, set to launch in 2024. As the American space agency detailed in a news release, the satellite will consistently survey Earth's surface with radar, aiming to monitor the evolving landscapes over time, once it becomes operational.
A scale model of the NISAR satellite, a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), is displayed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California on February 3, 2023.
NASA Administrator To Visit ISRO
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is set to visit ISRO, where he will tour the UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru to inspect the testing of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, scheduled for launch in 2024. During his visit, Nelson engaged with students at the Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum in Bengaluru.
He highlighted the collaborative NISAR mission as a testament to the strong partnership between the US and India in space, emphasizing the mission's global significance in providing valuable data for resource management, hazard mitigation, and climate change research.
Additionally, Nelson announced the US commitment to train and send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of 2024. ISRO Chief S Somanath echoed the collaborative spirit, confirming that discussions about sending Indian astronauts to the ISS originated from the meeting between the Indian Prime Minister and the US President.
Nelson emphasized the mutually beneficial nature of the program, with Indian astronauts being trained at US facilities. The visit is part of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, aligning with commitments made by President Joe Biden.
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NISAR Satellite Mission
Scheduled for a launch in early 2024 from ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Center in southern India, the NISAR mission is set to revolutionize our understanding of Earth's dynamic ecosystems.
Operating on a 12-day cycle, NISAR will conduct comprehensive scans of Earth's land and ice surfaces, employing two distinct synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems. Developed collaboratively by NASA and ISRO, these systems, namely the L-band SAR from NASA and the S-band SAR from ISRO, utilize different wavelengths for observation.
Paul Rosen, the NISAR project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, underscores the radar technology's prowess in providing a sweeping perspective of the planet's changes over time and space.
The primary focus of NISAR lies in monitoring Earth's crucial ecosystems - forests and wetlands. These environments act as vital carbon sinks, playing a pivotal role in mitigating the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Land use changes, such as deforestation for agricultural expansion or urban encroachment into wetlands, pose significant threats to these ecosystems, reducing their capacity to store carbon. Accounting for approximately 11% of global carbon emissions, these alterations in land use have far-reaching environmental implications.
Anup Das, co-lead of ISRO's NISAR science team, anticipates that NISAR will significantly contribute to our understanding of carbon dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems, particularly in less dense forests vulnerable to deforestation and degradation.
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