With its two radar instruments \u2014 an S-band system provided by ISRO and an L-band system provided by NASA \u2014 NISAR will use a technique known as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to scan nearly all the planet\u2019s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days. Each system\u2019s signal is sensitive to different sizes of features on Earth\u2019s surface, and each specializes in measuring different attributes, such as moisture content, surface roughness, and motion.<\/p>\n
These capabilities will help scientists better understand processes involved in natural hazards and catastrophic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, land subsidence, and landslides.<\/p>\n
Additionally, NISAR\u2019s cloud penetrating ability will aid urgent responses to communities during weather disasters such as hurricanes, storm surge, and flooding. The detailed maps the mission creates also will provide information on both gradual and sudden changes occurring on Earth\u2019s land and ice surfaces.<\/p>\n
Managed by Caltech for NASA, JPL leads the U.S. component of the NISAR project and provided the L-band SAR. NASA JPL also provided the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Near Space Network, which will receive NISAR\u2019s L-band data.<\/p>\n
Multiple ISRO centers have contributed to NISAR. The Space Applications Centre is providing the mission\u2019s S-band SAR. The U R Rao Satellite Centre provided the spacecraft bus. The rocket is from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, launch services are through Satish Dhawan Space Centre, and satellite mission operations are by the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network. The National Remote Sensing Centre is responsible for S-band data reception, operational products generation, and dissemination.<\/p>\n
To learn more about NISAR, visit:<\/p>\n