Recently ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said that the NISAR satellite will be able to monitor tectonic movements accurately and can fully map the earth twice a month.
NISAR Satellite
NISAR is an Earth-observation satellite that stands for (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar).
It is Jointly developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation under a partnership agreement signed in 2014.
It will be launched into a polar Sun-synchronous dawn-dusk orbit.
NISAR is the first satellite mission to collect radar data in two microwave bandwidth regions, called the L-band and the S-band.
The S-band payload has been made by the ISRO and the L-band payload by the U.S.
Monitoring of Earth’s Surface
The NISAR system comprises a dual-frequency, fully polarimetric radar, with an imaging swath greater than 150 miles (240 km).
This design permits complete global coverage every 12 days, allowing researchers to create time-series interferometric imagery and systematically map the changing surface of Earth.
It can monitor various aspects in very high resolution.
After a 90-day commissioning period, the mission will conduct a minimum of three full years of science operations with the L-band radar to satisfy NASA’s requirements,
ISRO requires five years of operations with the S-band radar.
Objectives of the Mission
NISAR can measure tectonic plate movements accurately. So a lot of geological, agricultural, and water-related observations can be obtained from this satellite.
It can study the water-stressing, climate change-related issues, and agricultural changes through patterns, yield, desertification, and continental movements precisely concerning annual water cycle movements.
NISAR’s data can help people worldwide better manage natural resources and hazards, as well as providing
g information for scientists to better understand the effects and pace of climate change.
