NASA-ISRO’s NISAR Satellite successfully deploys radar antenna to track Earth’s changes: Key mission details

The NASA-ISRO’s NISAR satellite has successfully deployed its 39-foot radar antenna reflector in low Earth orbit 17 days after launch, NASA said on Friday. This antenna is a crucial hardware that will support the satellite’s efforts to track changes in forests and wetlands, providing vital data to support disaster response, infrastructure monitoring and agriculture.

Known as NISAR’s advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar, it will also monitor ice sheets, glaciers, and land deformations from earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides with ‘remarkable’ precision. This will also enhance scientific understanding and decision-making regarding the preparedness of these natural phenomena. Estimated to cost over $1.3 billion, NISAR was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh on July 30.

“The successful deployment of NISAR’s reflector marks a significant milestone in the capabilities of the satellite,” Karen St. Germain, Director, Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said.

“The data NISAR is poised to gather will have a major impact on how global communities and stakeholders improve infrastructure, prepare for and recover from natural disasters, and maintain food security,” Germain added.

NISAR carries NASA’s most advanced radar systems, combining L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar for the first time. The L-band penetrates clouds and forest canopy, while the S-band detects light vegetation and snow moisture, the US space agency said in a blog post. The reflector is vital to both radar systems, so its deployment is significant for the mission’s success.

“This is the largest antenna reflector ever deployed for a NASA mission, and we were, of course, eager to see the deployment go well. It’s a critical part of the NISAR Earth science mission and has taken years to be ready for this big day,” said Phil Barela, NISAR project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was involved in the US portion of the mission. The focus is now on fine-tuning the satellite to ensure it begins delivering science data by later this year.

As part of the mission, ISRO contributed the S-band radar via its Space Applications Centre and the spacecraft bus through the U R Rao Satellite Centre. The launch services were provided at Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

Meanwhile, ISRO will continue overseeing key mission operations, including data handling and satellite health monitoring, through its Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network’s global system of ground stations.