NASA and ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organization, are poised to launch the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Center next month
This $1.5 billion Earth-observing satellite, weighing nearly three tons, promises to change environmental monitoring with its advanced radar capabilities, scanning land, ice, and water with recordings of the earth every 12 days.
Jointly developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and ISRO’s Space Applications Center, NISAR is the world’s first Earth-observing satellite equipped with dual-frequency radar, utilizing both L-band and S-band systems. This technology enables it to actively beam radar signals to Earth, analyze reflections, and generate high-resolution imagery. Unlike optical satellites that rely on sunlight and clear skies, NISAR can operate seamlessly in all conditions — day or night, even penetrating cloud cover, smoke, and dense vegetation.
A defining feature of NISAR is its commitment to open data. The high-resolution imagery and insights it gathers will be freely accessible to scientists, agencies, and governments worldwide. This transparency makes NISAR an indispensable tool for monitoring natural disasters, groundwater shifts, agricultural patterns, forest biomass, and tectonic plate movements. Its ability to detect ground deformations as small as a few millimeters enhances disaster preparedness, allowing precise tracking of earthquakes, landslides, glacier melts, dam subsidence, and coastal erosion. Additionally, its soil moisture tracking capabilities will assist farmers in optimizing irrigation and improving crop yields, contributing to global food security.
The NISAR mission represents over a decade of meticulous collaboration between NASA and ISRO. Engineers at NASA’s JPL in California and ISRO’s Space Applications Center in Ahmedabad have worked closely to develop this satellite. Before launch, NISAR underwent extensive integration and rigorous testing at ISRO’s Bangalore facility, with joint efforts from JPL and ISRO engineers ensuring its readiness for space deployment.
NISAR is set to launch aboard an ISRO GSLV Mark II rocket. Its success will further cement NASA and ISRO’s position at the forefront of space-based scientific advancements, paving the way for future collaborative missions aimed at tackling global challenges.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
