Related Topics

Fast Radio Bursts
2023 OCT   21
Karman Line
2023 OCT   3
Yarkovsky Effect
2023 OCT   2
New Space Race and India
2023 SEP   6

NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR)

2021 MAR 30

Preliminary   > Science and Technology   >   Space technology   >   Basics of space technology

Why in news?

  • NISAR satellite will be launched in 2022 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.

About NISAR:

  • The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project between NASA and ISRO to co-develop and launch a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar on an Earth observation satellite.
  • The satellite will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequencies.
  • It will be used for remote sensing, to observe and understand natural processes on Earth, like those on the Antarctic cryosphere.
  • With a total cost estimated at US$1.5 billion, NISAR is likely to be the world's most expensive Earth-imaging satellite.
  • It is designed to observe and measure some of the planet's most complex natural processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.
  • The partnership agreement was signed between NASA and ISRO in September 2014.
  • NASA will provide one of the radars for the satellite, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers and a payload data subsystem.
  • ISRO, on the other hand, will provide the spacecraft bus, the second type of radar (called the S-band radar), the launch vehicle and associated launch services.

Prelims Question

Consider the following statements regarding NISAR, a satellite recently in news:
1.It’s a joint project between India and Japan.
2.It is primarily an earth observation satellite.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to the Prelims Question