ISRO Develops S-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar

• 12 Mar 2021

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has developed the S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and shipped it to Nasa for integration with the L-band payload being developed by the US agency.
• Once the integration of the two radars is done, Nasa will send them to India where other parts of the Nasa-Isro SAR (NISAR) satellite will be built. Isro will then use its GSLV Mk-II rocket to launch NISAR from the Sriharikota launchpad.
• India and the US signed an agreement in 2014 to jointly develop the world’s first earth observation satellite with two different radars that can produce very high-resolution images.

About Nisar Satellite

• The satellite will be the world’s first-of-its-kind that will operate on two radio frequencies with capability to collect data day and night and in all weather, including during cloudy days.
• Its data can help people worldwide better manage natural resources and hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides, as well as provide information to better understand the effects and pace of climate change. It will also add to our understanding of the planet’s hard outer layer (crust).
• NISAR will be able to “measure changes in the Earth’s surface less than a centimeter across”, will also help measure and study dynamic surfaces, ice masses like Himalayan glaciers, sea level rise and groundwater level.