In a major space mission that will help millions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have joined hands to work together on the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission.
The NISAR mission, which is a joint space venture of the United States and India, will launch an aperture radar on the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS), which will in turn study and predict the natural processes and impending hazards on Earth.
The total cost of the NASA-ISRO NISAR project is around USD 1.5 billion, which comes out to around Rs 12,000 crores. With the whopping price of the project, the NISAR mission is expected to be the most expensive Earth-imaging satellite.
All about NASA and ISRO’s joint NISAR mission
The joint NISAR project of NASA and ISRO, which is set to be one of the most expensive space projects yet, aims at developing and launching a synthetic aperture radar on the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS), which will observe the natural processes of the planet.
The NISAR satellite by NASA and ISRO is aimed at using advanced radar imaging to map the elevation of Earth's land and ice masses 4 to 6 times a month and will capture keen observations on the natural process and climate change on Earth.
According to the official website, this satellite will be able to measure and detect regions where natural and hazardous processes are taking place such as ecosystem disturbances, ice sheet collapse, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and landslides.
How will NISAR help during earthquakes and landslides?
The NISAR satellite will be able to target and observe areas that are prone to earthquakes, measure how the land has been impacted, and measure the magnitude of the earthquake and the level of its aftermath. The same will be applied to other hazards such as tsunamis and landslides.
This means that NISAR will be able to detect the most earthquake-prone areas, which can in turn help governments and authorities to make better preparations for such areas to secure the population.
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