India is preparing for the much-anticipated launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, scheduled for Wednesday, July 30, 2025, at 5:40 pm IST. The satellite will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota using the GSLV-F16 rocket. This landmark mission marks the first-ever Earth observation collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA.
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The countdown for the launch began at 2:10 pm on Tuesday. Weighing 2,392 kg, the satellite will be deployed in a sun-synchronous orbit and is expected to scan the entire planet every 12 days. Equipped with NASA’s L-band and ISRO’s S-band radar systems, NISAR will deliver high-resolution, all-weather, day-and-night imaging across a 242 km swath. This dual-frequency radar setup enables the satellite to monitor minute surface changes with centimeter-level precision.
According to ISRO, NISAR is the first dual-band radar satellite to be launched using a GSLV rocket into a sun-synchronous orbit, which is typically used for PSLV missions. The satellite’s unique SweepSAR technology will allow it to capture detailed data on a wide range of Earth phenomena, including glacier movement, earthquake-induced deformation, soil moisture variation, storm patterns, vegetation dynamics, and shoreline shifts.
The NISAR mission is expected to play a vital role in global climate change research, environmental monitoring, infrastructure stress assessment, and disaster management efforts. It will also support real-time applications such as ship detection, surface water mapping, and agricultural monitoring.
ISRO Chairman Dr. V Narayanan confirmed that the mission is a result of over a decade of technical collaboration between ISRO and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He highlighted NISAR’s importance as the first ISRO-NASA mission to focus entirely on Earth observation, ushering in a new era of high-precision, joint space science.
This ambitious mission reaffirms India’s rising capabilities in space technology while strengthening global partnerships for sustainable Earth science.
