India and the United States achieved a historic milestone in space collaboration with the successful launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite aboard ISRO’s GSLV-F16 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 5:40 PM IST on Wednesday.

The 2,393 kg satellite was precisely placed into a 743-km Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO) after a 19-minute flight, marking the first time a GSLV rocket has been used for such an orbit, a task typically handled by ISRO’s PSLV. This follows the unsuccessful PSLV-C61/EOS-09 mission on May 18, 2025, where a faulty rocket failed to deliver its payload.

NISAR, a $1.5 billion joint venture developed over a decade, integrates NASA’s L-band radar (1.25 GHz, 24 cm wavelength) and ISRO’s S-band radar (3.2 GHz, 9 cm wavelength) on a 12-meter unfurlable mesh antenna, using SweepSAR technology for a 242-km swath with 5-10 meter resolution.

ISRO provided the S-band radar, spacecraft bus, and GSLV-F16, while NASA contributed the L-band radar, GPS receiver, solid-state recorder, and high-speed downlink system. The satellite, built on ISRO’s modified I3K bus, will scan Earth’s land and ice surfaces every 12 days, delivering all-weather, day-and-night imagery with centimeter-level precision.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh called NISAR “India’s scientific handshake with the world,” emphasizing its open-data policy, which makes data freely available within 1-2 days and near real-time during emergencies. This democratizes access for developing nations, aiding climate planning, disaster response, and resource management.

NISAR’s dual-frequency radar enables monitoring of earthquakes, landslides, glacial melt, sea-level rise, soil moisture, and crop health, supporting applications from disaster management to agricultural forecasting and urban planning. Its Antarctic coverage will provide unprecedented data on ice sheet dynamics.

Also Read: NISAR: NASA-ISRO’s Satellite Earth Monitoring Explained

The mission, with a five-year lifespan, begins with a 90-day commissioning phase for calibration, followed by science operations. ISRO handles satellite commanding, while NASA manages radar operations and orbit maneuvers. Ground stations of both agencies will process and disseminate data.

Unlike ISRO’s India-focused Resourcesat and RISAT missions, NISAR targets global phenomena, positioning India as a leader in Earth observation.

Also Read: NISAR: India-US Satellite to Revolutionize Earth Monitoring