MOSCOW, November 17 The US (NASA) and Indian (ISRO) space agencies are preparing to launch the joint NISAR space mission to compile a periodic map of the globe, Money Control reports.
NISAR is a low-orbit observatory that aims to map the entire globe every 12 days and produce consistent data to understand changes in Earth's ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, groundwater, and information on natural disasters including earthquakes, tsunamis , volcanoes and landslides.
According to NASA officials, the mission will be launched in the first quarter of 2024 after several tests.
«ISRO is forecasting the first quarter of next year. I mean, everything is ready… Vibration tests are already being done, but we need to do a whole bunch of performance tests. Battery and simulation tests need to be done to make sure that the system is working properly,» — Phil Barela, project manager from the American space agency, told the publication.
The Indian and US space agencies signed an agreement to cooperate and launch the NISAR project on September 30, 2014. NASA will provide equipment for the mission, including an L-band synthetic aperture radar, a high-speed communications subsystem for scientific data, GPS receivers, and a data recorder. The Indian Space Research Organization will provide the space platform, S-band radar, launch vehicle and associated launch services.