ISRO (Indian Space Agency) and NASA will launch their newest satellite, NISAR, on July 30. This could be the most expensive mission of its kind in history, costing nearly $1.5 billion. It will scan virtually the entire planet every 12 days. This survey will provide high-resolution data that will allow scientists to comprehensively monitor the planet’s land and ice-covered surfaces.
Liftoff is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. local time (12:10 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center
The NISAR launch will promote cooperation between the two countries and benefit the United States in the areas of agriculture and disaster response, according to an official NASA statement. Liftoff is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. local time (12:10 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh state, aboard a GSLV-F16 rocket that will place the satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 743 kilometers.
Another striking feature is the device’s physical dimensions. About the length of a pickup truck, NISAR’s main body contains a dual-radar payload: an L-band system with a wavelength of 25 centimeters (10 inches) and an S-band system with a wavelength of 10 centimeters (4 inches). “These two radars, one from NASA and one from ISRO, and the data they will produce, are an example of how collaboration between spaceflight partners can achieve more than either could alone,” both space agencies stated.
The satellite will scan the planet in 12-day cycles
NISAR is the first joint satellite mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The satellite will scan the planet in 12-day cycles, with applications in disaster management, agriculture, water resources, and climate change response, ISRO detailed in a statement.
In fact, as both agencies explain, the NISAR satellite has components developed on opposite sides of the planet by engineers from ISRO and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, in a collaborative effort. The S-band radar was built at ISRO’s Space Applications Center in Ahmedabad, while JPL built the L-band radar in Southern California.
From NISAR, they explain the objectives of the mission as follows. “Because of the broad science goals of the mission, and the wide variety of radar modes that could be employed over any given area, there is a great potential for complexity in the observation plan. The NISAR science team asked users in each of the three main disciplines that NISAR serves -solid Earth, cryosphere and ecosystems- to create a set of geographic science targets and observational radar modes to optimize their science. The science team then combined these lists, eliminating observational conflicts to produce a simplified target strategy.”
Furthermore, the results will help teams prepare for and respond to disasters
On the one hand, the information provided by NISAR will help decision-makers, communities, and scientists monitor agricultural fields and refine their understanding of natural hazards such as landslides and earthquakes, as explained in the release. Furthermore, the results will help teams prepare for and respond to disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and volcanic eruptions. The satellite will also provide key global data on changes in ice sheets, glaciers, and permafrost, as well as in forests and wetlands, as explained above.
Regarding the amount of data that can be accumulated, NISAR assures that the radars will generate approximately 80 terabytes of data products per day over the course of NISAR’s primary mission. That’s roughly enough information to fill approximately 150 hard drives, each 512 gigabytes in size, per day. The information will be processed, stored, and distributed via the cloud, and will be accessible to all.
