NASA-ISRO NISAR Mission: The US space agency NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization have jointly developed the world’s most powerful satellite. This satellite will provide the necessary data to understand the events of natural disasters, NASA has said that it will be launched from Sriharikota early next year.
A big update has come out regarding the joint mission NISAR of ISRO and NASA. The US space agency NASA has informed that at the beginning of the year 2025, it is going to launch the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite. It will be the world’s most powerful satellite, which will keep an eye on the movement of natural disasters coming around the world.
After deployment in space, this satellite will monitor earthquakes, rain, landslides, cyclones, lightning strikes, volcanic eruptions, and movement of tectonic plates, as well as send alerts before natural events, which will help avoid more damage in such a disaster.
The Indian Space Research Organisation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have jointly developed this satellite. According to NASA, the data obtained from this satellite will help in understanding natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides.
How will the NISAR satellite work?
Detailed information related to this mission has been given on NASA’s website. According to this, the NISAR satellite will keep an eye on the entire part of the earth, even on the snow-covered land. It will take measurements twice every 12 days and send data, the speed of the data obtained from this will give researchers information about how the Earth’s surface changes over time. Kathleen Jones, NISAR Application Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in South Carolina, says, ‘With such regular monitoring, we will be able to see how the Earth’s surface slides across the planet.
Launching from India in 2025:
NASA has said that this satellite will be launched from India in early 2025. It will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota with a GSLV-MK2 rocket. Its S-band has been made at ISRO’s Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad. Its L-band and spacecraft bus have been prepared by NASA. Apart from this, NASA has made important equipment like data recorders, GPS, and payload data sub-systems for the NISAR satellite.
NISAR will take 12 days to take two rounds of the Earth:
The NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission will measure the speed of the Earth’s surface and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days. How the Earth’s surface changes over time a complete picture will be given to researchers because of the speed of NISAR’s data collection.
This mission will be able to identify surface movements up to an inch and it is Aiming to launch from India in early 2025. Apart from monitoring changes on the Earth’s surface, the satellite will also be able to track the movement of ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice and map changes in vegetation.
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What information will it give about earthquakes?
Mark Simmons, the US solid Earth science lead for the mission at Caltech in Pasadena, California, said the NISAR satellite will not tell us when an earthquake will occur, instead, it will help us understand which regions of the world are most vulnerable to significant earthquakes. Researchers will know information about which parts of the Earth’s surface move slowly without producing earthquakes and which parts are locked together and can suddenly slip because this satellite will also give data about it.
India eyes Himalayan regions:
Sreejith K M, ISRO Solid Earth Science Lead for NISAR at the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, India, has said ‘From ISRO’s point of view, we are particularly interested in the Himalayan plate boundary. Very high magnitude earthquakes were experienced in this region earthquakes in the past, and this satellite will give us unprecedented information about the seismic hazards of the Himalayas.’
Complete information about volcanic eruptions will be available:
Surface movement is also important for volcano researchers, who need regularly collected data to detect land movements from time to time, which can detect eruptions in advance. As magma moves under the Earth’s surface, the land can rise or sink. This satellite will explain why the volcano deforms and whether this movement indicates an eruption.
NISAR World’s most expensive satellite:
NISAR is considered to be the world’s most powerful and most expensive satellite. The total cost of its construction is being told to be around Rs 10 thousand crores. NASA has not yet disclosed its launch date, it is being told that ISRO and NASA will jointly announce its launch date.
