Alexander Lewis
Nov 15, 2023
Engineers and scientists involved in the joint NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission have wrapped up significant assessments, including crucial thermal vacuum testing. Scheduled for liftoff in the first quarter of 2024, this mission reached a pivotal milestone with the completion of rigorous testing.
Phil Barela, the project manager for NASA's NISAR at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), revealed the successful thermal vacuum testing in Bengaluru, India. He expressed satisfaction with the team's progress, emphasising the test's significance in resolving system issues and ensuring stability under varying temperatures.
Highlighting the accomplished Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) tests, Barela outlined the upcoming crucial phase: vibration tests. He emphasised the necessity of simulating extreme launch conditions, an essential assessment to ensure the satellite's resilience during the launch phase.
NISAR, a joint venture between NASA and ISRO, is set to launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre aboard ISRO's GSLV Mark-II launch vehicle. Once operational, it aims to provide highly detailed data for monitoring diverse environmental changes globally, from volcanic activity prediction to ice sheet melt rates, and vegetation shifts.
NASA anticipates NISAR's three-year mission life to survey Earth's land and ice surfaces every 12 days after an initial 90-day satellite commissioning period. Equipped with L and S dual-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), the mission employs the Sweep SAR technique for extensive coverage with high-resolution data.
The project, costing $1.5 billion, involves collaborative efforts. While NASA's JPL is contributing to the mission's L-band SAR, ISRO's U R Rao Satellite Centre is responsible for the spacecraft bus, S-band SAR electronics, and mission operations.
