Successful Launch of NISAR Satellite

On 30th July 2025, India launched the $1.5 billion NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite — a first-of-its-kind radar imaging mission developed jointly by ISRO and NASA to monitor climate change and natural disasters.

Key Points

First NASA-ISRO Radar Collaboration: NISAR marks the first joint satellite mission between ISRO and NASA, symbolizing deeper U.S.-India space cooperation.
Dual-Frequency Radar: It is the world’s first radar imaging satellite using two frequencies — NASA’s L-band and ISRO’s S-band — to detect Earth surface changes as small as 1 cm.
Launch Details: Launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 1210 GMT using a medium-lift rocket into a Sun-synchronous orbit ~747 km above Earth.
Global Monitoring: The satellite will map the entire planet every 12 days with a 240-km radar swath, enabling detailed monitoring of glacier retreat, landslides, and ground deformation.
Open Access: All collected data will be freely available worldwide, supporting global disaster response and environmental research.
Mission Lifespan: NISAR is expected to operate for at least five years.
Strategic Vision: This launch aligns with India’s ambitions to become a major space power, following Chandrayaan-3’s success and ahead of its Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission and space station plans by 2035.