New High-Res Satellite to Change How We View Earth

A pioneering, high-resolution satellite blasted into orbit this week in a collaboration between the US and India.

Rendering of the NISAR satellite in orbit | Credit: NASA

Weighing almost three tonnes, the US$1.5 billion NISAR satellite will track - in unprecedented detail - the ground under our feet and the water that flows through it, providing valuable information for farmers, climate scientists and natural disaster response teams.

Devised by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation, it will use radar to map Earth and be able to measure ecosystem change, shifting ice masses and sea level rises. NISAR can measure variations in the Earth’s surface just a single centimetre in height even at night and through the cover of cloud.

It’s hoped the publicly-available data will help to forecast and respond to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, monitor climate change and inform agricultural policies.

“This launch marks the beginning of a new way of seeing the surface of our planet so that we can understand and foresee natural disasters and other changes in our Earth system that affect lives and property,” says Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science division.

Dr. Jitendra Singh, India’s Minister for Science and Technology, poetically added: “NISAR is not just a satellite; it is India’s scientific handshake with the world.”

Space.com reports that mission team members will spend the next 90 days or so checking out NISAR and its various systems, making sure everything is working well. Then, the satellite will begin its ambitious Earth-observing mission.