NASA-ISRO SAR
NISAR is a joint collaboration for a dual-frequency L and S-band SAR for earth observation.
NASA and Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO signed a partnership on September 30, 2014, to collaborate on and launch NISAR.
The mission is targeted to launch in early 2022 from ISRO’s Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district, about 100km north of Chennai.
It is capable of producing extremely high-resolution images for a joint earth observation satellite mission with NASA.
It will be the first satellite mission to use two different radar frequencies (L-band and S-band) to measure changes in our planet’s surface less than a centimetre across.
NISAR will observe Earth’s land and ice-covered surfaces globally with 12-day regularity on ascending and descending passes, sampling Earth on average every six days for a baseline three-year mission.
It will measure Earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces and ice masses, providing information about biomass, natural hazards, sea-level rise and groundwater, and will support a host of other applications.
It would also provide data on natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.
