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For the first time, the US and Indian space agencies are collaborating on developing equipment for an Earth observation mission. NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
For the first time, the US and Indian space agencies are collaborating on developing equipment for an Earth observation mission. NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) are terminating the NASA-ISRO Synthesized Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite.
When NISAR is launched in 2024, it will continuously scan the earth’s surface with radar. According to NASA’s statement, one of its main goals is to track how our planet’s landscapes change over time.
NISAR scans Earth’s entire land and ice surface twice every 12 days. The satellite contains two different Synthesized Aperture Radar (SAR) systems, each observing the Earth at different wavelengths. NASA is developing an L-band CSA, while ISRO is developing an S-band CSA that scans shorter wavelength radio waves.
“NISAR’s radar technology will allow us to obtain a broad view of the planet in space and time,” Paul Rosen, NISAR project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in a statement. “This could give us a really reliable picture of exactly how Earth’s land and ice are changing.”
NISAR will focus specifically on Earth’s forests and wetlands. Climate scientists are particularly interested in both types of ecosystems because forests and wetlands serve as vital carbon sinks, storing carbon that would otherwise float in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
But as farmers burn forests to clear new farmland, or as cities expand at the expense of wetlands, and as the area of both types of land shrinks, we reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they can store. According to scientists, such changes in land use account for about 11% of our carbon dioxide emissions.
“Globally, we do not have a good understanding of carbon sources and sinks in terrestrial ecosystems, especially forests,” said Anup Das, environmental scientist and head of ISRO’s NISAR research team. “So we expect NISAR to go a long way towards solving this problem.”
NISAR is scheduled to be launched in early 2024 from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Cosmodrome in southern India.
Source: Port Altele
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