BENGALURU: After the Axiom-4 mission, the next space mission that all space scientists and enthusiasts were waiting for- NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), will launch on July 30.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday announced that the satellite developed in coordination with NASA, is scheduled for launch at 5.40pm from Sriharikota. The ISRO’s GSLV-F16 will launch the NISAR satellite into the 743kms sun- synchronous orbit at an inclination of 98.4 degrees.
This is India’s first satellite that will observe the Earth with a dual frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar. Weighing 2,392 kg, the unique satellite will use NASA’s 12m unfurlable mesh reflector antenna. The NISAR will observe the Earth with a swath of 242 km and high spatial resolution, using SweepSAR technology for the first time, ISRO in its release said.
The satellite is unique and different as it will scan the Earth and provide all weather, day and night data at 12-day interval and will also enable a wide range of applications.
With its two radar instruments — an S-band system provided by ISRO and an L-band system provided by NASA — NISAR will use a technique known as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to scan nearly all the planet’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days. Each system’s signal is sensitive to different sizes of features on Earth’s surface, and each specializes in measuring different attributes, such as moisture content, surface roughness, and motion.
NISAR mission to monitor natural disasters and earth’s surface changes
These capabilities will help scientists better understand processes involved in natural hazards and catastrophic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, land subsidence, and landslides.
Additionally, NISAR’s cloud penetrating ability will aid urgent responses to communities during weather disasters such as hurricanes, storm surge, and flooding. The detailed maps the mission creates also will provide information on both gradual and sudden changes occurring on Earth’s land and ice surfaces.
Multiple ISRO centers have contributed to NISAR. The Space Applications Centre is providing the mission’s S-band SAR. The UR Rao Satellite Centre provided the spacecraft bus.
The rocket is from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, launch services are through Satish Dhawan Space Centre, and satellite mission operations are by the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network. The National Remote Sensing Centre is responsible for S-band data reception, operational products generation, and dissemination.
Managed by Caltech for NASA, JPL leads the US component of the NISAR project and provided the L-band SAR. NASA JPL also provided the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Near Space Network, which will receive NISAR’s L-band data.
“The NISAR can detect even small changes in the Earth’s surface such as ground deformation, ice sheet movement and vegetation dynamics. The applications will also include sea ice classification, ship detection, shoreline monitoring, storm characterization, changes in soil moisture, mapping and monitoring of surface water resources and disaster response,” ISRO scientists said.
NISAR will also be an excellent tool to understand and predict natural disasters. Apart from taking pictures and assessing the tiny scale movement of the land and changes up to 1cm, the soil moisture content information will be helpful in warning for early disasters, explained Paul Rosen, project scientist, NISAR, NASA JPL.
Explaining the ocean coverage, Rosen said they have added ocean coverage and livelihood dependence over the years. However, they do not have the deep ocean data. But the teams are studying the deep ocean and the weather systems. Over the years this information will be added to the NISAR database for over-the-years study.
Explaining the cost involved, Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA, said, ISRO and NASA’s contribution to the mission is on equal basis. NASA has invested 1.2 billion USD (Rs 1,03,49,34,20,400). However, the cost borne by ISRO is subject to differ, because of multiple factors.