NASA and ISRO to declare joint NISAR satellite operational on Friday

NASA and ISRO are all set to declare their first-ever jointly developed NISAR satellite operational on Friday, ISRO chairman V Narayanan said here on Wednesday.

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), said to be the most expensive Earth observation satellite ever built, has the ability to monitor most of the planet’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12



days.

The 2,400 kg NISAR satellite was launched on July 30 from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre using the GSLV rocket. 

“Entire data calibration has been completed, and we will have a conclave on November 7 to declare the satellite operational,” Narayanan said at the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC) here.