“During this phase, the science orbit will be maintained via regular manoeuvres, scheduled to avoid or minimise conflicts with science observations. Extensive calibration and validation activities will take place,” the ISRO had mentioned earlier. File
| Photo Credit: NASA by way of PTI
The NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, launched in July, has entered the science phase, the ISRO introduced on Friday (November 28, 2025).
The earth observation satellite gives all-weather, day-and-night knowledge, which have a variety of functions. It is the primary satellite collectively developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the U.S.’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The NISAR mission is broadly labeled into totally different phases – launch, deployment, commissioning and science phases. The final science operations phase begins on the finish of commissioning and extends until the tip of NISAR’s five-year mission life.
“During this phase, the science orbit will be maintained via regular manoeuvres, scheduled to avoid or minimise conflicts with science observations. Extensive calibration and validation activities will take place,” the ISRO had mentioned earlier.
Following the profitable launch of the satellite on July 30 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the 12-metre diameter antenna reflector was efficiently deployed.
The 12-meter diameter antenna reflector performs a key function for each ISRO’s S-Band and NASA’s L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Payload.
The antenna was launched in a stowed situation on a 9m-long growth, which was tucked near the satellite. The antenna and the 9m growth was developed by NASA. The unfolding of the joints of the growth commenced on August 9, and was carried out over a interval of 5 days.
The reflector meeting mounted on the tip of the growth was deployed efficiently on August 15.
“Since the first acquisition on August 19, NISAR S-Band SAR has been regularly imaging Indian landmass and global calibration-validation sites in various payload operating configurations. Reference targets such as corner reflectors were deployed around Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and a few more locations in India for calibration of the images. Data acquired over Amazon rainforests were also used for calibration of spacecraft pointing and images,” the ISRO mentioned.
It added that based mostly on this, payload knowledge acquisition parameters have been fine-tuned leading to high-quality pictures.
“Initial analysis by scientists and engineers revealed the potential of S-Band SAR data for various targeted science and application areas like agriculture, forestry, geo-sciences, hydrology, polar/Himalayan ice/snow, and oceanic studies,” it added.
Published – November 29, 2025 01:06 am IST