PREVIEW

These images and video show the launch of NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) NISAR satellite from the southeast Indian coast on Wednesday 30 July 2025.

After the successful launch the payload will orbit Earth for at least three years, using its sophisticated radar systems to scan nearly all the planet’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days.

NASA and ISRO will jointly operate the spacecraft to gather scientific data for the U.S. and India.
Short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, NISAR will help scientists better understand processes involved in natural hazards and catastrophic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides. In addition, it will support monitoring of infrastructure, such as dams, bridges, and roadways.

The satellite’s cloud-penetrating ability will help urgent-response communities during weather disasters such as hurricanes, storm surges, and floods.

It will also enable scientists to observe changes in ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice, as well as improve understanding of how deforestation, permafrost loss, and fires affect the carbon cycle.
Along with providing an unprecedented amount of data, the mission breaks new ground with its collaboration between teams of scientists and engineers separated by more than 9,000 miles and 13 time zones.

The first-ever hardware collaboration between NASA and ISRO on an Earth-observing mission, NISAR will carry the most advanced radar system ever launched as part of a NASA or ISRO mission.
About the length of a pickup truck, the satellite’s main body contains engineering systems and a first-of-its-kind dual-radar payload — an L-band system with a 10-inch (25-centimeter) wavelength and an S-band system with a 4-inch (10-centimetre) wavelength.

Each system’s signal is sensitive to different sizes of features on Earth’s surface, and each specialises in measuring different attributes, such as moisture content, surface roughness, and motion.

These characteristics are important for studying a variety of natural surface conditions, such as the amount of soil moisture available for vegetation to thrive or if land has subsided over time.
When operating together, the satellite’s two radars will collect data synchronised in time and location, extending the sensitivity of the measurements to objects on the surface.

For example it will be able to differentiate between shorter plants, such as bushes and shrubs, and taller vegetation, like trees.
It will also offer unprecedented coverage of Antarctica. This is crucial for studying the motion, deformation, and melting of the Antarctic ice sheet as it breaks up and deposits fresh water into the ocean.