The 'NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar' (NISAR), an Earth observation satellite, is poised to facilitate the exploration of how shifts in Earth's forest and wetland ecosystems impact the global carbon cycle and influence climate change.
This satellite is the product of a partnership between the American space agency NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Scheduled for launch in early 2024, the NISAR radar satellite mission will provide in-depth insights into two crucial ecosystem types: forests and wetlands, which play a vital role in naturally regulating the greenhouse gases responsible for global climate change, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Once in orbit, NISAR's advanced radar systems will comprehensively scan nearly all of Earth's land and ice surfaces every 12 days. "The data it gathers will enable researchers to comprehend two fundamental functions of these ecosystems: the absorption and release of carbon."
JPL pointed out that forests sequester carbon within their tree wood, while wetlands store it in their organic soil layers. Any disruption to these systems, whether gradual or sudden, can accelerate the release of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.
The global-scale monitoring of these land-cover changes will aid researchers in studying their impact on the carbon cycle, the processes governing the movement of carbon between the atmosphere, land, ocean, and living organisms.
"The radar technology on NISAR will provide us with a comprehensive view of the planet in terms of both space and time," remarked Paul Rosen, the NISAR project scientist at NASA's JPL in Southern California. "It will offer a highly reliable perspective on the evolving state of Earth's land and ice."
NISAR represents an equal collaboration between NASA and ISRO, marking the first time these two agencies have cooperated in the development of hardware for an Earth-observing mission.
JPL, overseen by NASA through the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, leads the U.S. component of the project, providing the mission's L-band SAR.
NASA is also responsible for delivering the radar reflector antenna, deployable boom, high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem.
ISRO's U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, spearheading the ISRO segment of the mission, is responsible for the spacecraft bus, S-band SAR electronics, the launch vehicle, and associated launch services and satellite mission operations.
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