The Kerala University of Fisheries & Ocean Studies (KUFOS) has been chosen to join a research project under a NASA-ISRO collaborative programme.

Highlights

• KUFOS will join the research programme by Space Application Centre of ISRO.
• NASA and ISRO have been jointly developing a space-borne synthetic aperture radar (NISAR). It will be launched in January 2023.
• NISAR will provide a high-resolution data for large areas with capability for systematic observation of earth resources. It will also provide time-series data for eco-systems applications.

NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission

NISAR is a joint project between NASA and ISRO. Both the organisations are working on it to co-develop and launch a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar on the Earth observation satellite. NISAR will be launched in 2023 and it will be the first radar imaging satellite that uses dual frequencies. Satellite will be used for remote sensing as well as to observe & understand natural processes on Earth.

NASA-ISRO agreement

Under the agreement between NASA and ISRO, NASA will provide L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a solid-state recorder, a high-rate telecommunication subsystem for scientific data GPS receivers, and a payload data subsystem. On the other hand, ISRO will provide an S-band synthetic aperture radar, satellite bus, launch vehicle, and associated launch services.

Mission Launch

NISAR satellite will be launched from India on January 29, 2023, aboard a GSLV Mk II. The orbit will be a Sun-synchronous.

Life of the mission

Planned mission life is three years.