Satellite Launch on July 30: United States and India Unite to Observe Earth's Surface, Issue Warnings for Natural Disasters
**NISAR Satellite Set to Launch for Natural Disaster Prevention and Response**
The NISAR Earth-observation satellite, a joint project between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is scheduled to launch on July 30. This innovative satellite offers several specific benefits and applications for natural disaster prevention and response.
NISAR uses dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar (L-band from NASA and S-band from ISRO), allowing it to capture detailed radar images through clouds, rain, and darkness, which is essential during severe weather events. This high-resolution, all-weather, day-and-night monitoring capability will be invaluable during natural disasters.
One of the key advantages of NISAR is its ability to detect ground deformation, with the sensitivity to identify centimeter-level changes in Earth's surface. This makes it ideal for monitoring natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides, improving early warning and risk assessment.
In real-time disaster response situations, NISAR data will assist emergency response teams during events like hurricanes, floods, storm surges, wildfires, and tsunamis by providing timely and accurate maps of affected areas despite weather conditions.
NISAR will also play a crucial role in monitoring ice sheets and glaciers, tracking changes in polar ice and glaciers to inform climate models that predict sea-level rise and related natural hazards, contributing to longer-term disaster prevention strategies.
Coastal erosion and maritime surveillance will also be aided by NISAR, as it will track coastal changes and sea-level impacts, helping to manage risks to coastal communities from storms and rising seas.
NISAR stands for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar. Synthetic aperture radar takes advantage of NISAR's motion to cover a large area on the ground with each radar beam, far larger than the actual size of the antenna, and captures fine detail by beaming thousands of radar pulses per second.
NISAR's giant antenna, a lightweight mesh that allows it to fold compactly for launch, will unfurl ten days after launch. The satellite will fly in an exact-repeat orbit, passing over the exact same ground track every 12 days.
NISAR is an equal 50/50 partnership between NASA and ISRO, with NASA funding the L-band radar, the antenna, and its boom, while ISRO contributed the S-band transmitter, the spacecraft bus, solar arrays, and the launch vehicle.
NISAR's dual-frequency band radar includes an L-band radar built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and an S-band radar provided by ISRO. By day 65, the first full-frame science images will be produced.
The co-lead of the ISRO science team, Deepak Putrevu, stated that NISAR packs a wide range of science toward a common goal of studying our changing planet and the impacts of natural hazards. Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, expressed excitement about the science that NISAR will produce and the impact it will have, stating that NISAR's data will help ensure the health and safety of those impacted by natural disasters and the infrastructure that supports them.
- The health and safety of people affected by natural disasters, as well as the infrastructure that supports them, will benefit from the science data produced by the NISAR satellite.
- NISAR will aid in monitoring changes in polar ice and glaciers, contributing to climate models that predict sea-level rise and related natural hazards, thereby having an impact on environmental science and the future health of our planet.
- During severe weather events, NISAR's high-resolution, all-weather, day-and-night monitoring capability will provide timely and accurate maps of affected areas, assisting career professionals in the field of disaster response.
- NISAR's capability to detect ground deformation, with centimeter-level precision, makes it ideal for various applications in science, including natural hazard monitoring like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides.
