Chennai, Oct 15 (UNI) The US Space Agency the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are collaborating on
one of NASA's biggest project--the NASA-ISRO SAR Mission
(NISAR), a joint Earth-observing mission.
This was disclosed by Drew Schufletowski, Minister Counselor
for Economic, Environment, Science and Technology Affairs,
US Embassy, New Delhi, in his address at the three-day Space
Technology Conclave titled ‘Space Technology: The Next Business
Frontier,'. organised by the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras
(IIT-M), the US Consulate General, Chennai and the Indian Space
Association (ISA) at the IIT-M premises on Saturday.
NISAR is planned for launch in early 2023 from the Satish Dhawan
Space Center , SHAR Range in Sriharikota, into a near-polar orbit
at an altitude of 747 km with an inclination of 98.4 deg.
ISRO will be using its heaviest home grown rocket GSLV-MkII for
the mission which will take place from the Second Launch Pad,
according to information collected from the NASA website on the
NISAR mission.
Delivering an address on the ‘Conclave from a Government
Perspective,’ Drew Schufletowski said, “bilateral trade between
India and the US is at a higher level than ever before and I see
the potential for collaboration in many areas."
Currently, NASA and ISRO are collaborating on one of NASA's
biggest project--the NASA-ISRO SAR Mission (NISAR), a joint
Earth-observing mission, he said.
The NISAR Mission will measure Earth's changing ecosystems,
dynamic surfaces, and ice masses providing information about
biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise, and groundwater, and
will support a host of other applications.
NISAR will observe Earth’s land and ice-covered surfaces globally
with 12-day regularity on ascending and descending passes,
sampling Earth on average every 6 days for a baseline 3-year
mission.
NISAR will map global land biomass, the amount of organic material
from plants, every 12 days.
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