Space
NISAR – First joint satellite of NASA and ISRO
▪ NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) is the first joint satellite developed by NASA and ISRO.
▪ Scheduled to be launched on July 30.
▪ The GSLV-F16 rocket will inject the Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite into a 743-km sunsynchronous orbit.
▪ NISAR satellite, weighing 2,392 kg, is a unique earth observation satellite.
▪ It is the first satellite to observe the earth with a dual frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar — the NASA’s L-band and the ISRO’s S-band.
▪ NISAR will observe earth with a swathe of 242 km and high spatial resolution, using SweepSAR technology for the first time.
▪ NISAR can detect even small changes in the earth’s surface, such as ground deformation, ice sheet movement, and vegetation dynamics.
▪ Applications of NISAR include sea ice classification, ship detection, shoreline monitoring, storm characterisation, changes in soil moisture, mapping and monitoring of surface water resources and disaster response.
