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NISAR

NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar)

Active Mission

about the mission

The News

Covering the Major Milestones

The Science

Behind the Science

Designed to provide a detailed view of the Earth to observe and measure some of the planet's most complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, natural hazards, sea level rise, and groundwater issues. Its radar, the first of its kind in space, will systematically map Earth, measuring changes of our planet's surface as small as a centimeter.

Type

Orbiter

Launch

2025

Partners

NASA, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)

Objective

Observe and measure Earth's surface

Mission Partners
NASA, ISRO
Instruments
L-SAR (24cm wavelength) and S-SAR (12cm wavelength)
Instrument Type
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Altitude/Inclination
747 km/98.4°

Mission Overview

An Unprecedented View of Earth

NISAR's data can help people worldwide better manage natural resources and hazards, as well as providing information for scientists to better understand the effects and pace of climate change. It will also add to our understanding of our planet's hard outer layer, called its crust.

Mission Overview

NISAR

News/Mission Updates

Explore All NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) Stories

Signal Acquired From NASA-ISRO’s NISAR Earth Satellite!

NASA-ISRO’s NISAR Spacecraft Separates From Rocket’s Third Stage

Liftoff of NASA-ISRO’s NISAR!

NASA-ISRO Earth Satellite NISAR Is ‘Go’ for Launch

NASA-ISRO’s NISAR Mission: By the Numbers

science Behind the Mission

The rocky mountains soar in the background just behind the nearby forest along the edge of the lake.

Solid Earth

Measuring constant changes in Earth's surface

Colored water flows among coral reefs form the upper case letter R in this Landsat satellite image.

Water

Measuring coastal processes

Some floating sea ice mixed with near black ocean waters along the borders of the solid ice edge, with ocean surrounding an ice peninsula toward the screen bottom.

Cryosphere

Monitoring changes in global ice

A tree covered mountain in the distance, behind two near bushy pines shows large orange flames in the center of the image. smoke billows up into the sky and to the right blue sky occupies a much smaller area over the fire on the left with some distant cumulus clouds behind

Ecosystems

Studying biomass and impacts on biodiversity

Documenting the progress for requisite benchmarks

The Magic of SAR

NISAR will be the first radar of its kind in space to systematically map Earth, using two different radar frequencies (L-band and S-band) to measure changes of our planet’s surface, including movements as small as centimeter. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) refers to a technique for producing fine-resolution images from a resolution-limited radar system.

Get to Know SAR

NISAR Multimedia

21 Images

36 Videos

A 3D illustration of what NISAR will look like in space

Engineers assemble NISAR's lower antenna boom in the clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Dive Deeper

Data

Explore Available NISAR Data Products and Resources

A rectangular satellite image overlaying a map of the same area with towns and interstates labeled. The town "Stockton" appears to the right of the satellite image.

An overview of UAVSAR's flight paths, and the NISAR simulated data that can be accessed in the database

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Explore Storymaps Across NISAR Applications

image of a flood with the word floods printed over it and a qr code in the right corner of the image.

Floods

Click here to view the Floods Storymap

wildfire burning, overlayed with the word "wildfires" and a qr code

Wildfires

Click here to view the Wildfires Storymap

image of oily water, overlayed with the words "Oil Slick" and a QR code

Oil Slicks

Click Here to see the Oil Slicks Storymamp

the front of a glacier from afar, overlayed by the words "Glacial Motion" and a qr code

Glacial Motion

Click here to view the Glacial Motion Storymap

image of sandy land with the word "land subsidence" and a qr code overlayed.

Land Subsidence

Click here to view the Land Subsidence Storymap

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