What is NASA ISRO's NISAR Mission and How Will It Work?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have collaborated on a joint mission called NISAR. This mission aims to conduct a detailed study of the Earth's changing environment.

NISAR is planned to be a low Earth orbit satellite that will map the entire Earth and continuously monitor geographical changes. It will record changes twice every 12 days. Key observations include the Earth's ice cover, land surface, ecosystem changes, sea level fluctuations, and groundwater levels.

About the NASA-ISRO Agreement

On September 30, 2014, NASA's Charles Bolden and ISRO's then Chairman K. Radhakrishnan signed the agreement for the NISAR mission. This satellite will use synthetic aperture radar technology to provide detailed Earth observation from low Earth orbit.

The mission was initially scheduled to launch in 2024 but has been delayed. It remains a critical project for studying climate change and Earth's dynamic surface processes.