NISAR Science Payload Packaged and Ready to Ship to India

A specially designed, climate-controlled shipping container holding the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) science instrument payload sits outside an airlock at the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Feb. 26, 2023. The payload was shipped to Bengaluru, India, on March 3, arriving on March 6. There it will be integrated with the satellite body, or bus, and undergo further testing leading up to launch in 2024.

The NISAR mission – a joint effort between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation – will observe nearly all the planet's land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days, measuring movements in extremely fine detail. It will also survey forests and agricultural regions to understand carbon exchange between plants and the atmosphere. NISAR's science payload will be the most advanced radar system ever launched as part of a NASA mission, and it will feature the largest-ever radar antenna of its kind: a drum-shaped, wire mesh reflector nearly 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter that will extend from a 30-foot (9-meter) boom.

The mission's science instruments consist of L- and S-band radar, so named to indicate the wavelengths of their signals. ISRO built the S-band radar, which it shipped to JPL in March 2021. Engineers spent much of the last two years integrating the instrument with the JPL-built L-band system, then conducting tests to verify they work well together.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, leads the U.S. component of NISAR. In addition to the L-band radar, NASA is also providing the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. In addition to the S-band radar, ISRO is providing the spacecraft bus, the launch vehicle, and associated launch services and satellite mission operations.

U.S.-Indian Team Collaborates to Assemble Main Components of NISAR

NISAR Satellite's Major Components Come Together

Main Components of NISAR Satellite Joined

NISAR Science Payload Gets Packaged for Shipment to India

Preparing the NISAR Science Payload for a Trip to India

NISAR Science Payload Arrives in India

Engineers, Technicians Working on NISAR in Clean Room

NASA, JPL, ISRO, and Indian Embassy Officials Send Off NISAR

NASA, ISRO, Indian Embassy Officials Visit NISAR in Clean Room

ISRO Chairman Visits NISAR in a Clean Room at JPL

News .

NASA, Partners Study Ancient Life in Australia to Inform Mars Search

News .

NASA Maps Key Heat Wave Differences in Southern California

News .

NASA Announces Launch Service for Arctic Warming Experiment

News .

NASA Data Shows Fierce Surface Temperatures During Phoenix Heat Wave

News .

NASA Helps Spot Wine Grape Disease From Skies Above California

News .

Crews Head Down River, Out to Sea to Prep New SWOT Water Satellite

News .

Powerful NASA-ISRO Earth Observing Satellite Coming Together in India

News .

Powerful NASA-ISRO Earth Observing Satellite Coming Together in India

Mission .

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite

Mission .

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite