{"id":377679,"date":"2025-08-27T13:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T13:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/377679\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T13:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T13:09:10","slug":"nasas-largest-satellite-antenna-ever-has-just-unfurled-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/377679\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Largest Satellite Antenna Ever Has Just Unfurled in Space"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Flower-like satellite has \u201cbloomed\u201d in outer space, unfolding to reveal the largest radar antenna reflector ever put into orbit. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar<\/a> (NISAR), a joint project between the US space agency and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), launched on July 30 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southeastern India, before unfurling to its full size 17 days later.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft is now ready to make full-scale observations of the Earth, and will use radar to track changes on our planet\u2019s surface in unprecedented resolution. It can record the movement of ice sheets and glaciers, crustal deformation caused by earthquakes and landslides, and changes in forest and wetland ecosystems, down to an accuracy of a few centimeters for certain types of terrain. The aim is for NISAR data to help with decision-making in a wide range of fields, including disaster responses, infrastructure, agricultural policy, and food security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe successful deployment of NISAR\u2019s reflector marks a significant milestone in the capabilities of the satellite,\u201d Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Satellite With Two Eyes<\/p>\n

NISAR\u2019s antenna reflector\u2014the device it uses to transmit and receive radar signals\u2014measures 39 feet across, making it the largest such device ever put into orbit by NASA. Made from gold-plated wire mesh, the reflector was attached to the satellite like a folded umbrella. During the four days following the launch, the satellite slowly extended its boom, before the frame of the antenna, which had been held under tension, was released on August 15, allowing the reflector to \u201cbloom\u201d to its full size<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NISAR is the first satellite to carry two types of synthetic aperture radar, or SAR: L-band and S-band. The former penetrates the forest canopy and clouds to detect crustal deformation and ice sheet movement. S-band is sensitive to moisture in snow cover and changes in vegetation. By combining the two, it is possible to record a multilayered record of diverse phenomena ranging from earthquakes and volcanic activity to deforestation. The giant reflector serves as the \u201ceye\u201d that is essential to both systems, focusing the transmitted radar when it is sent down to Earth and receiving and focusing these signals when they bounce back up to the satellite.<\/p>\n

\u201cSynthetic aperture radar, in principle, works like the lens of a camera, which focuses light to make a sharp image. The size of the lens, called the aperture, determines the sharpness of the image,\u201d Paul Rosen, NISAR\u2019s project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cUsing special interferometric techniques that compare images over time, NISAR enables researchers and data users to create 3D movies of changes happening on Earth\u2019s surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA and ISRO engineers working on the deployment of the antenna. The unfurling of the reflector took about 37 minutes.<\/p>\n

Photograph: NASA\/JPL-CaltechTechnology Decades in the Making<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been developing radars for use on satellites since the 1970s, launching the world\u2019s first ocean observation satellite, Seasat, in 1978, and revealing the topography of Venus\u2019s cloud-covered surface with the planetary probe Magellan in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

A culmination of knowledge gained over the decades, NISAR is a product of both US and Indian technology: NASA provided the L-band SAR and data communications equipment, while India\u2019s ISRO was responsible for the S-band SAR and the satellite bus\u2014the infrastructure that handles power, communications, and the satellite\u2019s orientation. ISRO\u2019s ground station was responsible for the launch and initial operations, and experts from both countries worked together to monitor the deployment operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Flower-like satellite has \u201cbloomed\u201d in outer space, unfolding to reveal the largest radar antenna reflector ever put…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[874,2823,70,413,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-377679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-nasa","9":"tag-satellites","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115100894089717930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}