SRIHARIKOTA: The Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (Nisar) satellite, capable of mapping the entire globe in 12 days and spotting minute changes, was successfully launched by GSLV-F16 on Wednesday evening, marking a new milestone in global Earth observation and in the India-US space collaboration.
The rocket placed the 2,393kg satellite in a 747km sun synchronous polar orbit -- a first for a GSLV -- around 19 minutes after it lifted off from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
“Extremely happy to announce that GSLV-F16 has successfully injected the Nasa- Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite weighing 2393kg into its intended orbit. This is our 102nd launch from Sriharikota and the eight day mission of GSLV,” Isro chairman V Narayanan said.
“This is the first GSLV mission to the sun synchronous polar orbit. Till date all the GSLV missions have been through GTO. Several analyses and studies were carried out to make this mission a grand success. All the systems performance was normal, as expected and as predicted and today we achieved the intended orbit. Actually, we have got an orbit of less than 3km against a permissible level of 20km,” he said.
The Nisar observatory, which has been under development for more than a decade, carries a first-of-its-kind dual-band — L and S bands — radar satellite with a capability for high-resolution, as small as a few centimetres, mapping above and below the Earth’s surface.
This will help scientists track subtle changes in Earth’s ecosystems, including sea level rise, groundwater and natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, volcanoes and landslides, aiding early warnings, disaster response and infrastructure damage assessment.
The Nisar mission ’s primary objectives are to study land and ice deformation, land ecosystems and oceanic regions in areas of common interest to the US and Indian science communities.
The Isro chairman said, “The Nisar satellite is a significant milestone for both the Department of Space, India and Nasa JPL being the first joint development project undertaken by the two major spacefaring nations. Nisar is an all-weather day night imaging satellite. The potential application from this satellite is huge and the global science community is eagerly awaiting the satellite data for their respective research and usage. The implementation arrangement between Isro and Nasa for a joint exploration satellite mission was signed on Sept 30, 2014. Since then, the realization of the satellite has been steady."
"Over the past so many years the Nisar mission has brought the two space agencies much closer than ever before and the continuous interactions at various levels during the course of project execution has enriched both sides. We wish the scientific community from both sides the exciting days ahead. I am sure this data is going to be highly useful for the global scientific community of the globe. And when the data is going to come every 12 days it is not going to be used by one or two countries, but the entire globe,” he added.
Wednesday's mission was GSLV’s 18th flight and 12th flight with the indigenous cryogenic stage. It was also the 102nd launch from Sriharikota.
According to Isro, the dual-band synthetic aperture radar employs polarimetric and interferometric techniques and an advanced, novel SweepSAR technique, which provides high-resolution and large-swath imagery. Nisar will image the global land and ice-covered surfaces, including islands, sea ice and selected oceans every 12 days.
It will help measure biomass and its changes, track changes in the extent of active crops, understand changes in wetland extent, map Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, dynamics of sea ice and mountain glaciers and characterise land surface deformation related to seismicity, volcanism, landslides and subsidence and uplift associated with changes in subsurface aquifers, hydrocarbon reservoirs and others.
While Isro built the S-band radar system, data handling and high-speed downlink system, the spacecraft and the launch system, Nasa delivered the L-band radar system, high-speed downlink system, the solid-state recorder, GPS receiver and the 9m boom hoisting the 12m reflector.
Isro will handle satellite commanding and operations while Nasa will provide the orbit manoeuvre plan and radar operations plan.
Nisar mission will be aided with ground station support of both Isro and Nasa for downloading of the acquired images, which, after the necessary processing, will be disseminated to the user community.
The rocket placed the 2,393kg satellite in a 747km sun synchronous polar orbit -- a first for a GSLV -- around 19 minutes after it lifted off from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
“Extremely happy to announce that GSLV-F16 has successfully injected the Nasa- Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite weighing 2393kg into its intended orbit. This is our 102nd launch from Sriharikota and the eight day mission of GSLV,” Isro chairman V Narayanan said.
“This is the first GSLV mission to the sun synchronous polar orbit. Till date all the GSLV missions have been through GTO. Several analyses and studies were carried out to make this mission a grand success. All the systems performance was normal, as expected and as predicted and today we achieved the intended orbit. Actually, we have got an orbit of less than 3km against a permissible level of 20km,” he said.
The Nisar observatory, which has been under development for more than a decade, carries a first-of-its-kind dual-band — L and S bands — radar satellite with a capability for high-resolution, as small as a few centimetres, mapping above and below the Earth’s surface.
This will help scientists track subtle changes in Earth’s ecosystems, including sea level rise, groundwater and natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, volcanoes and landslides, aiding early warnings, disaster response and infrastructure damage assessment.
The Nisar mission ’s primary objectives are to study land and ice deformation, land ecosystems and oceanic regions in areas of common interest to the US and Indian science communities.
The Isro chairman said, “The Nisar satellite is a significant milestone for both the Department of Space, India and Nasa JPL being the first joint development project undertaken by the two major spacefaring nations. Nisar is an all-weather day night imaging satellite. The potential application from this satellite is huge and the global science community is eagerly awaiting the satellite data for their respective research and usage. The implementation arrangement between Isro and Nasa for a joint exploration satellite mission was signed on Sept 30, 2014. Since then, the realization of the satellite has been steady."
"Over the past so many years the Nisar mission has brought the two space agencies much closer than ever before and the continuous interactions at various levels during the course of project execution has enriched both sides. We wish the scientific community from both sides the exciting days ahead. I am sure this data is going to be highly useful for the global scientific community of the globe. And when the data is going to come every 12 days it is not going to be used by one or two countries, but the entire globe,” he added.
Wednesday's mission was GSLV’s 18th flight and 12th flight with the indigenous cryogenic stage. It was also the 102nd launch from Sriharikota.
According to Isro, the dual-band synthetic aperture radar employs polarimetric and interferometric techniques and an advanced, novel SweepSAR technique, which provides high-resolution and large-swath imagery. Nisar will image the global land and ice-covered surfaces, including islands, sea ice and selected oceans every 12 days.
It will help measure biomass and its changes, track changes in the extent of active crops, understand changes in wetland extent, map Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, dynamics of sea ice and mountain glaciers and characterise land surface deformation related to seismicity, volcanism, landslides and subsidence and uplift associated with changes in subsurface aquifers, hydrocarbon reservoirs and others.
While Isro built the S-band radar system, data handling and high-speed downlink system, the spacecraft and the launch system, Nasa delivered the L-band radar system, high-speed downlink system, the solid-state recorder, GPS receiver and the 9m boom hoisting the 12m reflector.
Isro will handle satellite commanding and operations while Nasa will provide the orbit manoeuvre plan and radar operations plan.
Nisar mission will be aided with ground station support of both Isro and Nasa for downloading of the acquired images, which, after the necessary processing, will be disseminated to the user community.
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