17 days after launch, NASA said Friday that the 39-foot radar antenna reflector of the NASA-ISRO NISAR spacecraft had successfully placed itself in low Earth orbit. This antenna is an essential piece of equipment that will help the satellite monitor changes in wetlands and forests, giving critical information to aid in agricultural, infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response. Known as NISAR’s sophisticated Synthetic Aperture Radar, it will also keep an eye on glaciers, ice sheets, and terrain deformations caused by landslides, earthquakes, and volcanoes with “remarkable” accuracy. Additionally, this will improve scientific comprehension and decision-making concerning these natural occurrences’ readiness. NISAR, which is estimated to have cost more than $1.3 billion, was launched on July 30 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh. For the first time, NISAR combines L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar, one of NASA’s most sophisticated radar systems. According to a blog post by the US space agency, the S-band detects light vegetation and snow wetness, while the L-band penetrates clouds and the forest canopy.
The deployment of the reflector is critical to the success of the mission because it is essential to both radar systems. We naturally wanted the deployment to go smoothly because this is the biggest antenna reflector ever used for a NASA mission. It has taken years to prepare for this momentous day and is an essential component of the NISAR Earth research mission,” said Phil Barela, NISAR project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The US portion of the mission involved the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The satellite is currently being adjusted so that it can start providing science data later this year.
ISRO provided the spacecraft bus through the U R Rao Satellite Center and the S-band radar through its Space Applications Center as part of the mission. The Satish Dhawan Space Center served as the launch site. Through the global network of ground stations that make up its Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network, ISRO will continue to supervise critical mission functions, such as data processing and satellite health monitoring.
