NISAR to be declared operational on Nov 7: ISRO chief

New Delhi | NASA and ISRO are all set to declare their first-ever jointly developed NISAR satellite operational on Friday, ISRO chairman V Narayanan said here on Wednesday.

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), said to be the most expensive Earth observation satellite ever built, has the ability to monitor most of the planet's land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days.

The 2,400 kg NISAR satellite was launched on July 30 from ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre using the GSLV rocket.

"Entire data calibration has been completed, and we will have a conclave on November 7 to declare the satellite operational," Narayanan said at the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC) here.

The NISAR mission is the first to carry two SAR systems – the L-Band and S-Band sensors.

The L-band radar can penetrate forest canopies and measure soil moisture, forest biomass, and the motion of land and ice surfaces.

The S-band radar is more sensitive to small vegetation, and can observe certain types of agriculture, grassland ecosystems and moisture in snow. Both systems can collect data through clouds and precipitation, day and night.

"All the data is very outstanding. Every 12 days, the Earth can be scanned, and it is going to be a highly useful satellite," Narayanan said.

The ISRO chief also said the first uncrewed mission of the Gaganyaan project — India's human spaceflight programme — is expected to take place in January, with plans to send its astronauts into space on a home-built rocket by 2027.

Narayanan said over 8,000 tests have been carried out for the mission so far, and ISRO plans to conduct three uncrewed missions before sending astronauts to orbit the Earth.

He said India also plans to launch the first module of the Bhartiya Antariksh Station by 2028 and make the complete five-module orbital lab operational by 2035.

The Indian space station will be a 52-tonne facility with the capacity to host three to four crew members for longer durations and a maximum of six members for short-duration missions.