The India-US joint mission, which focuses on addressing climate change by launching the Earth-imaging satellite, in the world is nearing its final stages. According to Laurie Leshin, Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the anticipated launch is expected to take place in the quarter of 2024. In an interview with NDTV, Leshin emphasized the importance of the NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) and highlighted its potential role in predicting natural hazards like earthquakes and tsunamis. She also expressed admiration for India’s space program. Noted that it has gained respect following the success of the Chandrayaan 3 mission.
The collaborative effort between ISRO and NASA has resulted in the development of NISAR, a satellite designed to orbit the Earth’s surface and map the planet every 12 days. Its primary objective is to provide data for monitoring aspects such as changes in ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation patterns, sea levels, and groundwater levels, as well as natural hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and landslides.
Highlighting NISAR’s significance for society at large, Leshin stated that understanding changes on Earth’s surface is crucial for comprehending the impacts of climate change. The satellite’s high-precision observations of surface changes will greatly contribute to monitoring melting ice sheets worldwide, tracking forest transformations over time detecting seismic activities such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that affect populations globally.
Leshin enthusiastically expressed her excitement regarding the collaboration between NASA and ISRO emphasizing the importance of this partnership in the realm of space exploration. She highlighted the cooperation that took place with engineers from both organizations working together in Bengaluru for a period of over nine months. This joint effort was a success further emphasized by the contributions of ISRO scientists who worked on NASA’s radar at their Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
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