The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, launched on 30 July 2025 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, has officially entered its final science operations phase, marking a critical milestone in its five-year mission.

This phase will see the satellite operate in a carefully maintained science orbit with regular manoeuvres to prevent conflicts with ongoing observations, accompanied by essential calibration and validation activities to ensure data accuracy.

The NISAR satellite is notable for its unique dual-frequency radar system, incorporating ISRO’s S-Band and NASA’s L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar payloads. A 12-metre diameter antenna reflector, developed and deployed by NASA, is central to this capability.

The antenna was launched stowed on a 9-metre boom and successfully unfolded between 9 and 15 August 2025, enabling full radar functionality.

Since commencing science data acquisition on 19 August, NISAR’s S-Band radar has regularly imaged India’s landmass and various global calibration sites.

Calibration efforts included the deployment of reference corner reflectors around Ahmedabad and other Indian locations, with additional calibration from Amazon rainforest data. These efforts have refined payload data parameters, resulting in consistently high-quality imagery.

Preliminary scientific analysis highlights the satellite’s broad application potential across multiple domains—including agriculture, forestry, geosciences, hydrology, polar and Himalayan snow-ice monitoring, and ocean studies.

The all-weather, day-and-night radar data provided by NISAR offer an unprecedented capability to monitor Earth’s dynamic surface conditions consistently on a global scale.

This mission represents a landmark collaboration between ISRO and NASA, combining advanced radar technologies for comprehensive Earth observation critical to environmental and scientific research worldwide.

The science operations phase is expected to extend throughout the satellite’s operational life of five years, significantly contributing to both nations’ space and Earth science capabilities.​

Agencies