Today marks a "historic moment" for both the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA as the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite is set to launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Nilesh Desai, Director of ISRO's Space Applications Centre (SAC), has called the mission "a classic example of collaborative effort between two great democratic countries".

The NISAR satellite is scheduled to launch aboard India's GSLV-F16 rocket at 5:40 PM IST. This Earth observation satellite, jointly developed by ISRO and NASA, represents the culmination of a decade of hard work and marks one of the biggest Indo-US satellite missions to date. The mission's cost exceeds $1.5 billion.

NISAR will scan nearly all of Earth's land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days, observing changes as small as a centimeter with high-resolution imagery. The satellite is equipped with dual-band radar that will track earthquakes, melting glaciers, floods, and deforestation with unmatched precision. Its primary objectives include studying land deformation, land ecosystems, and ocean regions.

ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan and SAC Director Nilesh Desai have provided exclusive insights into the mission, highlighting how NISAR's dual-band radar will revolutionize the way we see and protect our planet. The satellite weighs 2,392 kg and will orbit Earth every 97 minutes in a sun-synchronous orbit.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh stated that the NISAR satellite is India's scientific handshake with the world. He emphasized that the mission symbolizes what two democracies committed to science and global welfare can achieve together. Singh also noted that NISAR will not only serve India and the United States but will also provide critical data for countries around the world, especially in areas like disaster management, agriculture, and climate monitoring.

NISAR is the first mission of its kind to carry two different frequencies: an L and S-band. It can acquire fully polarimetric and interferometric data. A key feature of the mission is that all data generated by NISAR will be open source and made freely accessible within one to two days of observation, and in near real-time in case of emergencies. This democratization of data is expected to support global scientific research and decision-making, especially for developing countries that may not have access to similar capabilities.

The S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar payload is fully developed by ISRO, while the L-band SAR payload is developed by JPL in the USA. Both payloads are assembled and integrated in India. The GSLV-F16 rocket, which will deploy NISAR, utilizes the 12th indigenously developed cryogenic rocket engine. The radar's development stemmed from the Swipa technology, with the primary objective of enabling scientists to study land deformation and related events like landslides. The interferometry mode of the L and S radar will provide resolution down to the centimeter and millimeter level, enabling detailed study of Earth's land deformation and tectonic movements.