World’s most expensive Indo-US Earth observation satellite NISAR to launch on July 30

NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), a joint Earth observation mission developed by NASA and ISRO over more than a decade, is scheduled to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on July 30 at 5:40 pm IST aboard ISRO’s GSLV-F16 launch vehicle.

Weighing roughly 2.4 tonnes and carrying a mission price tag of over $1.5 billion, it is described by Indian and US officials as the most expensive Earth observation satellite mission yet undertaken and the largest collaborative space project between the two countries.

Designed to deliver high-resolution, all-weather, day-night measurements, NISAR combines two powerful synthetic aperture radars: an L-band system supplied by NASA and an S-band system built by ISRO.

Working together through a 12-meter deployable mesh reflector, the dual-frequency payload will be able to detect surface changes on land and ice down to centimeter-scale and produce repeat global coverage about every 12 days in its sun-synchronous orbit.

These capabilities allow scientists and disaster agencies to monitor earthquakes, landslides, volcanic deformation, glacier and ice-sheet movement, forest biomass, crop conditions, soil moisture, and groundwater-related surface change with unprecedented consistency across seasons and cloud cover.

NASA is providing the L-band radar, high-rate telecommunications, GPS receivers, solid-state recorder, and portions of the antenna system, while ISRO has delivered the S-band radar, spacecraft bus, launch services, and mission operations support.

India has budgeted more than ₹7,800 crore (approx.) toward its share, viewing the mission as a strategic investment that will strengthen national capabilities in disaster response, agriculture planning, water management, and climate monitoring; all NISAR data products are planned to be made freely available globally, enhancing both scientific research and applied decision-making.