Indian rocket to launch NISAR satellite on July 30 in joint NASA-ISRO mission

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission on July 30 at 5:40 pm IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. This marks a key milestone in more than a decade of collaboration between ISRO and NASA.

NISAR is the first joint Earth observation satellite by the two agencies and will be placed into orbit by India’s GSLV-F16 rocket.

“On the 30th of July, we are going to have the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission. The satellite will be placed in orbit by the Indian rocket,” said ISRO Chairman and Department of Space Secretary Dr V Narayanan while speaking to reporters on Friday.


Weighing 2,392 kg, the satellite will be injected into a Sun-synchronous orbit 743 km above the Earth at an inclination of 98.40 degrees. Its main feature is a dual-frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar—NASA’s L-band and ISRO’s S-band, fitted to a 12-metre unfurlable mesh reflector antenna mounted on ISRO’s modified I3K satellite bus.

According to ISRO, the satellite will scan the entire globe every 12 days using SweepSAR technology, delivering high-resolution, day-and-night, all-weather imagery across a 242 km swath.

“NISAR will scan the entire globe every 12 days, providing high-resolution, all-weather, day-and-night data. It can detect even subtle changes in Earth's surface—like ground deformation, ice sheet shifts, and vegetation dynamics,” ISRO said in a post on X.

In a statement, ISRO noted that the satellite will support a range of critical applications, including storm tracking, sea ice monitoring, shoreline observation, ship detection, mapping of surface water bodies, and disaster response.

“NISAR can detect even small changes in the Earth's surface, such as ground deformation, ice sheet movement and vegetation dynamics. Further applications include sea ice classification, ship detection, shoreline monitoring, storm characterisation, changes in soil moisture, mapping & monitoring of surface water resources and disaster response,” it said.

The mission is a flagship example of international cooperation in space technology aimed at addressing climate change, natural disasters, and Earth science research.

With inputs from PTI