NASA, India launch radar satellite to map Earth’s terrain, ice

India and the United States have launched a new satellite designed to closely monitor changes on Earth’s surface from land and ice shifts to coastal movement.

Tribune Online gathered that the joint mission between the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) aims to improve global disaster preparedness and provide deeper insight into climate change.

The 2,392kg NASA-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (Nisar) satellite lifted off on Wednesday at 17:40 IST (12:10 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in southern India.

NASA, which has more than 20 Earth observation satellites in orbit, describes Nisar as “the most sophisticated radar we’ve ever built” and says it can detect “the minutest of changes anywhere in the world”. Nisar is the first satellite to use both L-band and S-band radar frequencies, contributed by NASA and Isro respectively. This dual capability allows it to scan the same locations every 12 days, picking up even centimetre-level changes on Earth’s surface.

“The satellite will help track precursors to natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides and volcanoes,” said Karen St Germain, NASA’s Director of Earth Sciences.

“We’ll also be able to spot human-induced land changes caused by farming and infrastructure projects such as buildings and bridges.”

According to former NASA scientist Mila Mitra, repeated scans will generate detailed data to assist with monitoring glaciers, land subsidence, and coastline shifts. The satellite will take about 90 days to fully deploy and begin collecting data after completing system checks.

Built over more than a decade, the $1.5 billion mission represents a major collaboration between the two space agencies.

NASA contributed key instruments, while Isro provided the rocket, launch site, and satellite bus. “This is going to be yet another great day for India,” Isro Chairman V Narayanan told NDTV.

“This life-saving satellite is a symbol of India’s growing leadership in space,” he added. Science Minister Jitendra Singh called Nisar “India’s scientific handshake with the world” and a milestone in India-US space cooperation.

The launch comes on the heels of India’s recent space milestones, including the Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing and the start of its solar observation programme. Isro also plans to send its first human mission into space in 2027, establish a space station by 2035, and land an astronaut on the Moon by 2040.

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