NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) Mission.
                     NASA-ISRO SAR 
(NISAR) Mission
INTRODUCTION
• NISAR is a joint NASA-ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) 
Earth-observing mission with the goal to make global 
measurements of the causes and consequences of land surface 
changes. 
Source: eoportal.org
ABOUT THE MISSION
• Using advanced radar imaging that will provide an 
unprecedented, detailed view of Earth, the NASA-ISRO 
Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, satellite is designed to 
observe and take measurements of some of the planet's most 
complex processes. 
• These include ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and 
natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and 
landslides.
Source: jpl.nasa.gov
NISAR
• Data collected from NISAR will reveal information about the 
evolution and state of Earth's crust, help scientists better 
understand our planet's processes and changing climate, and 
aid future resource and hazard management. 
• The mission is a partnership between NASA and the Indian 
Space Research Organization.
Source: jpl.nasa.gov
L-band and S-band
• NISAR will be the first satellite mission to use two different 
radar frequencies (L-band and S-band) to measure changes in 
our planet's surface less than a centimeter across. 
• This allows the mission to observe a wide range of changes, 
from the flow rates of glaciers and ice sheets to the dynamics 
of earthquakes and volcanoes.
Source: jpl.nasa.gov
Partnership
• NASA had been studying concepts for a SAR mission in response 
to the National Academy of Science's decadal survey of the 
agency's Earth science program in 2007. 
• The agency developed a partnership with ISRO that led to this 
joint mission. 
• The partnership with India has been key to enabling many of 
the mission's science objectives.
Source: eoportal.org
Spacecraft
• The NISAR flight system design, development, integration, 
testing and operations are a joint venture, with equivalent-
scale contributions from both JPL and ISRO.
Source: Twitter
GPS (Global Positioning System)
• In addition to the two radar instruments, the NISAR payload 
includes a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver for 
precision orbit determination and onboard timing references, a 
solid-state recorder, and a high-rate data downlink subsystem 
to enable transmission of the high-volume science data to the 
ground
Source: space.com
Launch
• The launch of NISAR is planned for December 2021 on an ISRO 
GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) Mark II launch 
vehicle of ISRO from SDSC (Satish Dhawan Space Center) in 
Sriharikota, India.
Source: eoportal.org
Science Performance
• The NISAR mission is designed to meet a specific set of 
measurement requirements and which have been quite stable 
over the period of mission development. 
• The science measurements are characterized in terms of 
quantities that are derived from radar imagery.
• For solid earth and cryosphere objectives, the measurements 
are expressed in terms of vector displacements of the surface 
of Earth.
Source: Youtube
Telecommunications
• The NISAR observatory's telecommunications system provides 
for one uplink path and three downlink paths. 
• The uplink path is from ISRO's command center at ISTRAC 
through the observatory's S-band antenna mounted on the ISRO 
spacecraft bus. 
Source: eoportal.org