Chennai, July 29 — The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that the countdown for the much-anticipated launch of NISAR — the first Indo-US joint Earth observation satellite — will begin at 2:10 pm today, ahead of its scheduled lift-off at 5:40 pm on July 30 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
The 27.5-hour countdown will include fuel loading and extensive system checks for the launch vehicle, GSLV-F16, which will carry the 2,393 kg NISAR satellite into a 747 km Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSO). The launch marks the first time a GSLV rocket is being used to deliver a satellite into this type of orbit.
Developed jointly by NASA and ISRO at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion, NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a cutting-edge Earth observation satellite designed for a five-year mission life. It is the first satellite in the world to use dual-frequency SAR (L-band by NASA and S-band by ISRO), enabling it to capture detailed imagery of Earth’s surface changes, regardless of weather or lighting conditions.
Applications of NISAR include monitoring of glaciers, landslides, agriculture, vegetation, soil moisture, sea ice, and infrastructure. It will provide high-resolution global data every 12 days, assisting in disaster response, environmental management, and scientific research.
NISAR’s radar payload includes a 12-meter deployable mesh reflector mounted on a 9-meter boom, capable of capturing data with remarkable precision using SweepSAR technology. Scientists will be able to study changes in the Earth’s crust, detect natural hazards, and analyze ecological trends more comprehensively than ever before.
The satellite’s science operations will begin after in-orbit checks, with full-scale data collection over three years and calibration during the initial five months.
Originally slated for launch in 2022, the mission faced delays and is now set for liftoff nearly a decade after the ISRO-NASA partnership was signed in 2014.
