A powerful new satellite will soon provide insights into natural hazards, ecosystems, agriculture, and other fields of study that affect communities around the globe. The NISAR mission is a collaboration between NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and will use radar to track Earth’s changing surface in fine detail.
Short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, NISAR features an advanced radar system with two instruments: one from ISRO and one built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Using radar enables NISAR to map Earth’s land and ice surfaces day or night, regardless of whether skies are cloudy or clear.
