30/07/2025
Aimed at boosting ties between India and the United States on space exploration, India is geared up to launch an earth observation satellite jointly developed by ISRO and NASA on Wednesday.
Eyeing to study the planet Earth as a whole from a Sun-synchronous Orbit, the NISAR satellite is a combination of human skills and exchange of software and hardware between the two space agencies for over a decade.
NISAR, an acronym for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, weighing 2,393 kg, is expected to fly on a 51.7-meter-tall, three-stage GSLV-F16 rocket at a prefixed time of 5.40 pm from the second launch pad at Sriharikota, situated about 135 km from Chennai on Wednesday.
The countdown for the launch commenced at 2.10 pm on July 29 and has been progressing, ISRO said, and the mission would be classified into launch phase, deployment phase, commissioning phase, and science phase.
While the partnership between ISRO and NASA is the first of its kind, it is also the first time for a GSLV rocket to carry a rocket destined for Sun-synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO), unlike Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles.
The Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO has sent similar missions in the past (Resourcesat, RISAT) to study the Earth but were "operationally focused" on Indian territory. The NISAR mission is targeted to study the Earth and would provide information to the global scientific fraternity, ISRO said.
The satellite would be able to study seasonal changes in forest dynamics, mountain shifts, and glacier movements in the Himalayas and Antarctica and at the North and South poles.
NISAR mission's primary objectives are to study land and ice deformation, land ecosystems, and oceanic regions in areas of common interest to the United States and Indian science communities.
GSLV-F16 is the 18th flight of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle and the 12th with indigenous cryogenic stage. It is also the 102nd launch from Sriharikota.
The life of the NISAR Mission is 5 years, ISRO said.
