NASA-ISRO's NISAR takes off

NISAR, the powerful U.S.-India Earth observation satellite made it to the launch pad and is now officially in orbit.

Transcript

00:00This is NISAR, the powerful US-Indian Earth observation satellite that made it to the

00:11launch pad and is now officially in orbit. ISRO and NASA joined hands to launch the NISAR mission,

00:16a $1.5 billion Earth observation satellite that will map our planet Earth like never before.

00:22Launched from Shri Harikota aboard ISRO's GSLV-MK2 rocket on 30th July 2025, NISAR,

00:28the NASA ISRO synthetic aperture radar is now in orbit and will soon start scanning every inch

00:34of the planet from deep underground movements to shifts at the polarised caps. But why is the

00:38NASA ISRO joint satellite such a big deal? Because this isn't just any satellite, it's the world's

00:44first dual-frequency radar satellite designed to see through clouds, forests, smoke and even darkness.

00:50From earthquakes and landslides to melting glaciers and shrinking groundwater, NISAR can detect even

00:56millimetre level changes on the Earth's surface. In just 12 days, it will cover almost the entire

01:01land and ice-covered surface of the Earth, all in high resolution. And the best part,

01:06its data will be free and open source, available to scientists, disaster response teams,

01:11farmers and climate experts worldwide. Now, what does India gain from NISAR?

01:16In the $1.5 billion collaboration, India's share is just to be 788 crore, that is about

01:22$96 million. That might sound like a small slice of the pie, but it's a strategic investment with

01:28massive returns. It directly supports India's climate goals by enabling glacier monitoring,

01:33agricultural planning and water resource management. Most importantly, it strengthens

01:37India's global scientific credibility. From helping predict floods in Assam, to measuring how fast

01:43Himalayan glaciers are melting, NISAR isn't just scanning the Earth, it's reshaping how India prepares,

01:48response and leads in a rapidly changing climate.