BENGALURU: Ahead of the scheduled timeline of 90 days to start sharing images, analysing data and issuing alerts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) (NISAR), one of the state of the art technologically advanced satellite launched by India and the US, has started sharing images from space.
On September 25, the NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) shared the first set of images captured by NISAR’S L-band SAR, with colour codes, each explaining the details of the findings. The NASA-JPL will receive 35 tetrabyte, the NRSC- 8terabyte and the Antarctica Centre will also receive and disseminate data.
Sharing the details, NASA said, “The preliminary L-Band images are an example of what the mission team will be able to produce when the science phase begins in November the mission team anticipates having science-quality radar images from the coming weeks. Full science operations are scheduled to begin 90-days from the date of launch of the satellite.”
On August 21, the L-Band SAR captured images of Mount Desert Island on the Maine Coast. With colour codes it showed the forest, the hard and regular surfaces, the bare ground and the buildings. And, also explained the island’s northeast end of Bar Harbour, which houses a town.
Then on August 23, the L-Band SAR captured images of a portion of northeastern North Dakota straddling Grand Forks and Walsh countries. These images showed the forest and wetlands on the banks of the Forest River passing through the centre of the frame from west to east and farrmlands from the north and south. The colour codings explained the fallow fields and the crops including soyabean and bean. Circular patterns indication were also used to show the centre- pivot irrigation, the NASA team explained in the release.
Amit Kshatriya, Associate Administrator, NASA, said, “The successful capture of these first images from NISAR is a remarkable example of how partnerships and collaborations can achieve great things.”
The satellite was launched on July 30, 2025. On August 9, its drum-shaped antenna reflectors- which is the largest ever in space measuring 39 feet (12metres)- had started to open. Then on August 15, the reflectors were opened to unfurl the antenna. Following this, the motors and cables were activated. Also, during mid- September, NASA team said that the satellite was raised into its desired operational orbit of 747Kms.