What is NISAR,  a joint mission satellite of ISRO and NASA to track climate change, disaster?

Team Udayavani, Mar 27, 2021, 3:47 PM IST

The Nasa-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) is a collaboration between the Indian and US space agencies for a dual-frequency L and S-band SAR for earth observation.

The name NISAR is short for NASA-ISRO-SAR. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) refers to a technique for producing fine-resolution images from a resolution-limited radar system.

NISAR will be the first radar of its kind in space to systematically map Earth, using two different radar frequencies (L-band and S-band) to measure changes in our planet’s surface less than a centimeter across.

The SUV-size Earth satellite is expected to track subtle changes going on in the Earth’s surface.  It will provide spot warning signs of volcanic eruptions along with monitoring groundwater supplies.  The satellite will also track the melting rate of ice sheets and its impact on the sea level rise.

NISAR will help the government to manage natural disasters as it will provide highly spatial data on tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, and volcanoes.

The satellite will be launched in 2022 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India, into a near-polar orbit and will scan the globe every 12 days over the course of its three-year mission