NISAR, Earth-Observation Satellite jointly developed by NASA, ISRO will be launched in 2024
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch NISAR in 2024, which will deploy the most advanced radar system ever on a NASA science mission. NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) will observe nearly all of Earth’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days, measuring movements in extremely fine detail. It will also cover forests and agriculture regions in its survey to demonstrate to scientists how carbon exchange between plants and the atmosphere occurs.
Mission NISAR was envisioned by NASA and ISRO eight years ago, in 2014, with an aim to powerfully demonstrate the capability of radar as a science tool to help Scientists study Earth's dynamic land and ice surfaces in detail. NISAR will be the first satellite with a mission to use two different radar frequencies (L-band and S-band) on the science payload to measure changes in our planet's surface less than a centimetre. The payload of NISAR, set to launch as a part of the NASA science mission will include the most sophisticated radar system (L-band and S-band) ever launched. This system will have the biggest radar antenna of its kind, which will be nearly 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter and drum-shaped with a wire mesh reflector. The antenna will extend from a 30-foot (9-meter) boom.
The dual-frequency imaging radar satellite that uses Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to produce high-resolution images capable of penetrating clouds can collect data day and night regardless of weather conditions. This provides the mission an opportunity to observe wide changes ranging from the flow rates of glaciers and ice sheets to the influences of earthquakes and volcanoes. The NISAR will be loaded with two fully capable synthetic aperture radar instruments: NASA’s 24 cm-wavelength L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (L-SAR) and a 10-cm-wavelength S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (S-SAR) provided by ISRO. NISAR has a 240 km swath, 7 m resolution along track and 2-8 m resolution cross-track (depending on mode).
In addition, NASA is furnishing several essential components for this project, including the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-speed communication subsystem for scientific data, GPS receivers, a reliable solid-state recorder, and the payload data subsystem.
Along with the S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is furnishing the spacecraft bus and launch vehicle, as well as the corresponding launch services and satellite mission operations. In March 2021, the S-band radar was constructed by ISRO and transported to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA.
For a period of two years, engineers dedicated a significant amount of time to integrate the S-band radar supplied by ISRO into the instrument with the L-band system constructed by JPL, known as Science Payload, followed by a series of tests to confirm their compatibility. Once the compatibility test was confirmed, the JPL engineers exported the science payload back to India through a specially designed container in late February 2023 via C-17 cargo plane, which landed in Bengaluru on the 6th of March.
In 2024, the NISAR satellite will be launched into a near-polar Earth orbit using ISRO's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Center located on India's South-Eastern coast. The satellite's science payload will be integrated with its body for the launch.
Girish Linganna
Aerospace & Defence Analyst
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People taught lesson to those who were talking about changing Constitution: Pawar
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Maharashtra) (PTI): NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said the country taught a lesson to those who were talking about changing the Constitution.
He was speaking at the unveiling of the Urdu translation of English book "Padmavibhushan Sharad Pawar - The great Enigma" by Sheshrao Chavan here.
The political situation in the country should change, Pawar said, adding, "We should think where we are heading. We have to see that the country does not fall in the wrong hands."
Four months ago (during the Lok Sabha election campaign), Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party colleagues made statements that were not in national interest, the NCP (SP) chief said, referring to BJP leader Ananthkumar Hegde's controversial remark that they needed 400-plus seats to amend the Constitution.
"It is a good thing that the people taught a lesson to those who talked about changing the Constitution," Pawar said.
He also hit back at Union minister Amit Shah who recently called him "ringleader of corrupt people".
"A week ago, Amit Shah said that Sharad Pawar is the ringleader of all the corrupt people in the country. Earlier, when he was in Gujarat, he used the law in the wrong manner. For that the Supreme Court externed him from Gujarat. The one who was externed by the Supreme Court is holding charge of the Union Home Ministry now," Pawar said.
Shah was discharged in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case in 2014.
