NASA-ISRO Satellite Sends First Radar Images of Earth’s Surface

The Nisar (NASA-Isro synthetic opening radar) The first images of the surface of our planet, and they offer an overview of to come as a joint mission between NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) is approaching complete scientific operations later this year.

“Launched under President Trump in collaboration with India, the first images of Nisar testify to what can be achieved when we are used around a shared vision of innovation and discovery,” said the interim administrator of NASA, Sean Duffy. “This is only the beginning. NASA will continue to rely on the incredible scientific progress of the past and the present while we are looking for our objective of maintaining the domination of the space of our country thanks to the science of gold standards. ”

The images of the spacecraft, which were launched by the ISRO on July 30, display the level of detail with which Nisar scans the land to provide unique and exploitable information to decision -makers in a diversified range of fields, including a response to disaster, infrastructure monitoring and agricultural management.

“Understanding the functioning of our native planet, we can produce models and an analysis of the way the other planets of our solar system and beyond work while we are preparing to send humanity in an epic journey to the Moon and to Mars,” said NASA associate administrator, Amit Kshatriya. “The successful capture of these first images of Nisar is a remarkable example of the way in which partnership and collaboration between two nations, on opposite sides of the world, can achieve great things together for the benefit of all.”

On August 21, the synthetic opening radar system of the L strip of satellite (SAR), which was provided by the NASA propulsion laboratory in southern California, captured Mount Desert Island on the Coast of Maine. Dark areas represent water, while green areas are forest, and magenta areas are hard or regular surfaces, such as bare soil and buildings. The L -strip radar system can solve objects as small as 15 feet (5 meters), allowing the image of displaying narrow navigable waterways that cross the island, as well as the islets sprinkling the waters around it.

Then, on August 23, the SAR in band L captured the data of part of the northeast of Dakota northern riding on Grand Forks and the counties of Walsh. The image shows forests and wetlands on the banks of the forest river passing through the center of the West to East frame and agricultural land in the north and south. Dark agricultural plots show fallow fields, while lighter colors represent the presence of pastures or crops, such as soy and corn. Circular models indicate the use of central pivot irrigation.

The images show how the LA LA LA L in LA L can discern what type of terrestrial coverage – vegetation, trees and low human structures – is present in each area. This capacity is vital both to monitor the gain and the loss of forest and wetlands ecosystems, as well as to follow the progress of cultures across growth seasons around the world.

“These initial images are only an overview of the impactful science that Nisar will produce – data and ideas which will allow scientists to study the land and changing ice in unprecedented details while equipping decision -makers to respond to natural disasters and other challenges,” declared Nicky Fox, associate administrator, directorate of the scientific mission to NASA Headlerson. “They also testify to the hard work of hundreds of scientists and engineers on both sides in the world to build an observatory with the most advanced radar system ever launched by NASA and ISRO.”

The strip system in the 10 -inch wavelength (25 centimeter) which allows its signal to penetrate the forest awnings and measure the moisture of the soil and the movement of ice surfaces and end until fractions of a thumb, which is a key measure to understand how the earthly surface moves before, during and after earthquakes, volcanic eruptions.

Preliminary images in band L are an example of what the mission team will be able to produce when the scientific phase begins in November. The satellite was raised in its operating orbit of 464 miles (747 kilometers) in mid-September.

The Nisar mission also includes an S strip radar, provided by the ISRO space applications center, which uses a 4-inch (10 centimeters) microwave signal which is more sensitive to small vegetation, which makes it effective to monitor certain types of agricultural ecosystems and prairies.

The spacecraft is the first to transport radars in L and S strip. The satellite will monitor the land and glacial surfaces of the earth twice every 12 days, collecting data using the antenna reflector in the shape of a spatial vessel, which measures 39 feet (12 meters) wide – the largest NASA has ever sent to space.

The Nisar mission is a partnership between NASA and ISRO, years of technical and programmatic collaboration. Nisar’s launch and successful deployment rely on a strong inheritance of cooperation between the United States and India in space.

The Space Applications Center provided the SAR in the mission’s S band. The Ur Rao satellite center has provided the space bus. The launch vehicle was provided by Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, and the launch services were done by Sagé Dhawan Space Center. Key operations, including the deployment of the Boom and Radar antennas reflector, are now being executed and surveillance by ISRO telemetry, monitoring and the global system for command network.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, NASA JPL directs the American component of the project. In addition to the SAR, the Reflector and Boom in Band L in Band L, JPL also provided the high-speed communication subsystem for scientific data, a data recorder in the solid state and the subsystem of payload data. The Goddard Space Flight Center from NASA in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the nearby space network, which receives the L -band data from Nisar.

To find out more about Nisar, visit:

https://nisar.jpl.nasa.gov

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Liz Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
Elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov

Andrew Wang / Jane J. Lee
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
626-379-6874 / 818-354-0307
Andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov