NASA and ISRO have integrated joint Level 1 requirements for NISAR to conduct emergency observations after natural or human disasters worldwide.
ISRO’s upcoming Shukrayaan Venus orbiter will fly the highest resolution radar yet over Venus, taking cues from both the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter and NISAR.
NISAR combines a longer wavelength L-band synthetic aperture radar from NASA with a complementary shorter S-band system from ISRO.
The NISAR spacecraft was launched on July 30 and features the first dual frequency radar system on a free-flying Earth observation satellite.
ISRO’s radar technology, initially developed for Earth observation, evolved for use on the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter before being integrated into NISAR.
ISRO’s formal contribution to NISAR with the S-band radar was established in 2014 to meet India’s specific goals.
The US Government Accountability Office assessed NISAR's development in 2018 and found it was progressing despite procedural risks between NASA and ISRO.
NISAR will repeatedly observe physical changes on Earth from a polar orbit for the next three years.
NISAR is designed such that both L-band and S-band can work simultaneously to achieve mission goals.
NISAR is the first free-flying Earth observation satellite to utilize dual-frequency SAR technology.
NASA Director of Earth Sciences Karen Germain noted that NISAR will help scientists better understand other planets, including Venus.
The SweepSAR radar mapping technique used by NISAR was developed in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on July 30.
NISAR is a joint satellite project developed by NASA and ISRO.
NISAR is designed to support detailed studies of subsidence, swelling, and movements linked to glacier and ice sheet melting in Greenland and Antarctica.
The NASA contribution to the NISAR project is estimated at about $1.2 billion.
Both NISAR radar signals will be transmitted to Earth using a 12-meter-wide antenna reflector built by NASA.
ISRO launched NISAR on a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II (GSLV Mk II).
The NASA-built 12-meter antenna reflector on NISAR was launched in a folded state and uses a gold-plated mesh.
The NISAR satellite weighed 2,392 kilograms at launch.