A new satellite has blasted off from southern India and it’s not just any satellite. It’s the most advanced radar satellite ever built by NASA, and it’s the first time India and the United States have teamed up to keep real-time tabs on Earth’s tiniest surface changes. Called Nisar, this heavyweight marvel is setting a fresh tone for space collaboration.
Built over a decade, Nisar weighs in at 2,392kg and carries the hopes of scientists tracking climate change, tectonic shifts, and natural disasters. It lifted off on Wednesday at 17:40 IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and now orbits the planet in a sun-synchronous path, ensuring it scans the same spots every 12 days.
Two Nations, One Giant Leap
This mission is the result of years of transcontinental cooperation, much of it forged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NASA and ISRO engineers worked thousands of miles apart often virtually to build the $1.5 billion radar observatory. India supplied the S-band radar, launch vehicle, and launch facilities, while the US contributed the L-band radar and the satellite’s core structural components.
According to NASA’s Earth Sciences Director Karen St Germain, who traveled to India for the launch, this project is not just another satellite launch it’s “the most sophisticated radar we’ve ever built.” That’s saying a lot coming from the agency that already has more than two dozen Earth-observing satellites in space.
This collaboration follows a string of recent ISRO successes, including its 2023 Moon landing at the lunar south pole and the Aditya-L1 solar observatory mission.
What Makes Nisar So Special?
Nisar is the first satellite that will use both L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar to track changes in Earth’s crust, vegetation, glaciers, and infrastructure. This dual-frequency technology gives it unparalleled sensitivity.
With a revisit period of just 12 days, it can detect shifts as subtle as a few centimeters whether it’s an earthquake fault line shifting, a glacier retreating, or even construction of new roads.
Here’s what it can track:
-
Land subsidence from groundwater pumping
-
Ice sheet melting in Greenland and Antarctica
-
Earthquake precursor activity
-
Forest biomass and deforestation
-
Coastal erosion and sea-level rise
-
Agricultural land use and irrigation changes
And the benefits aren’t limited to scientific curiosity. The data Nisar collects can be used for early warnings in disaster-prone regions and in tracking climate-related changes with pinpoint precision.
A Satellite Built to Save Lives
V Narayanan, ISRO Chairman, referred to Nisar as a “life-saving satellite” in a televised interview.
He emphasized its potential to warn about volcanoes, landslides, and other hazards before they strike especially in vulnerable areas across South Asia, Africa, and island nations.
The satellite’s high-resolution scans can catch changes invisible to the naked eye, and its open-data policy means the findings will be accessible worldwide. This, Narayanan noted, makes it a “gift to the global scientific community.”
Indian Science Minister Jitendra Singh called Nisar a “scientific handshake with the world,” symbolizing India’s rising stature in international space diplomacy. He touted it as a defining moment in Indo-US space cooperation, reinforcing India’s ambition to become a key player in space tech.
From the Earth to the Stars: A Broader Vision
The timing of Nisar’s launch is no coincidence.
Just weeks earlier, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla made headlines by joining the Axiom-4 crew to the International Space Station marking the first Indian presence aboard the ISS. That milestone came under the mentorship of NASA legend Peggy Whitson.
Meanwhile, ISRO’s roadmap includes sending humans into space via the Gaganyaan mission in 2027, building a domestic space station by 2035, and aiming to put an Indian on the Moon by 2040.
Nisar is one part of that broader push, but it’s a significant one a mission designed not to leave Earth, but to better understand it.
Countdown to Full Deployment
Though it has been launched, Nisar is not yet fully operational.
The satellite will take approximately 90 days to complete deployment and calibration. Only after that will its scientific instruments begin recording data.
Engineers will spend the coming weeks running diagnostic tests, aligning the dual-band radar system, and syncing data relay protocols with ground stations in India and the US.
It’s a slow ramp-up, but one that will unlock a powerful tool for global climate research, infrastructure monitoring, and disaster readiness.
