NISAR, a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and ISRO, aims to measure changes in our planet’s surface and study natural hazards and global environmental change.
A New Frontier
Space
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magine a world in which scientists are able to see minute changes in glaciers, sea levels, crops, aquifers, and even volcanoes before they can cause mass upheaval. This might soon become a reality, thanks to a groundbreaking partnership between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The space agencies have worked together to design the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), a first-ofits-kind, dual-frequency radar system that will
22 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020
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By CANDICE YACONO
be housed on a satellite, optimized for studying hazards and global environmental change. Synthetic aperture radar refers to a technique of producing fine-resolution images from a resolution-limited radar system. NISAR will measure Earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces and ice masses, providing information about biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise and groundwater, and will support a host of other applications. It is scheduled to launch in 2022 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
