The Indo-US NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission stands as a hallmark in international collaboration, merging the technical capabilities of NASA and India’s ISRO to deliver an advanced Earth-observing satellite.

As of July 2025, the prestigious and eagerly anticipated launch is poised to take place at the end of the month, with current indicators pointing to a launch on either July 30 or 31. The final confirmation of the launch date is expected during a NASA press conference scheduled for July 21, to be broadcast by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NISAR is scheduled to lift off from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) in Sriharikota, a site well-known for its critical role in India’s space missions. The launch vehicle for this mission is ISRO’s heaviest indigenously developed rocket, the GSLV MK-2. The GSLV F-16 will be the 18th flight of the GSLV and the 12th flight of MK-2 variant using indigenous cryogenic engine.

NISAR will be injected into a near-polar Sun-synchronous orbit, approximately 747 km above the Earth’s surface, with an orbital inclination of 98.4 degrees. This high-inclination orbit is designed to maximise coverage and ensure systematic global observation.

In the run-up to launch, both NASA and ISRO have focused discussions on not only ensuring readiness for the mission but also on exploring continued professional exchanges and collaboration in the realms of advanced technical areas and broader space exploration. The NISAR mission, one of NASA’s most substantial partnerships, exemplifies the commitment of both national agencies to innovate through cooperation and builds a precedent for further joint endeavours.

NISAR’s primary objective is to provide ultra-high-resolution, dual-frequency radar imagery of the entire globe. It is engineered to systematically observe Earth’s land and ice-covered surfaces with 12-day regularity on ascending and descending orbital passes, effectively sampling every part of Earth every 6 days over a baseline mission duration of three years.

The mission will deliver vital measurements of:

Earth’s changing ecosystems, including mapping global land biomass every 12 days, crucial for tracking vegetation growth and climate change impacts.

Dynamic surfaces and ice masses, enhancing our understanding of glacier movements and their contribution to sea-level rise.

Natural hazards, such as earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions by detecting ground deformations with centimetre-scale precision.

Sea level rise and groundwater changes, through persistent, consistent radar observations.

Biomass assessment for ecosystem and carbon cycle studies, informing both conservation strategies and climate modelling.

By deploying both an L-band radar (from NASA) and an S-band radar (from ISRO), NISAR represents a technological leap in Earth observation. The dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar allows the mission to penetrate cloud cover and vegetation, collecting uninterrupted data both day and night.

These capabilities are pivotal for real-time disaster monitoring, agricultural management, water resource tracking, and supporting detailed studies of planetary dynamics. The vast trove of open-access data expected from NISAR is set to empower global researchers, policymakers, and humanitarian agencies, substantially influencing social, economic, and environmental resilience.

With the NISAR mission on the verge of lift-off, the scientific and diplomatic communities are poised for a breakthrough in Earth observation technology. The mission symbolises a new era of transparency, accessibility, and international scientific partnership, laying groundwork for deeper cooperation between the United States and India, and ensuring substantial global benefits in environmental monitoring and disaster preparedness for years to come.

Agencies