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By NASA
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle lifts off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeastern coast at 8:10 a.m. EDT (5:40 a.m. IST), July 30, 2025.Credit: ISRO Carrying an advanced radar system that will produce a dynamic, three-dimensional view of Earth in unprecedented detail, the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite has launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Jointly developed by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and a critical part of the United States – India civil-space cooperation highlighted by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi earlier this year, the satellite can detect the movement of land and ice surfaces down to the centimeter. The mission will help protect communities by providing unique, actionable information to decision-makers in a diverse range of areas, including disaster response, infrastructure monitoring, and agricultural management.
The satellite lifted off aboard an ISRO Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket at 8:10 a.m. EDT (5:10 p.m. IST), Wednesday, July 30. The ISRO ground controllers began communicating with NISAR about 20 minutes after launch, at just after 8:29 a.m. EDT, and confirmed it is operating as expected.
“Congratulations to the entire NISAR mission team on a successful launch that spanned across multiple time zones and continents in the first-ever partnership between NASA and ISRO on a mission of this sheer magnitude,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Where moments are most critical, NISAR’s data will help ensure the health and safety of those impacted on Earth, as well as the infrastructure that supports them, for the benefit of all.”
From 464 miles (747 kilometers) above Earth, NISAR will use two advanced radar instruments to track changes in Earth’s forests and wetland ecosystems, monitor deformation and motion of the planet’s frozen surfaces, and detect the movement of Earth’s crust down to fractions of an inch — a key measurement in understanding how the land surface moves before, during, and after earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides.
“ISRO’s GSLV has precisely injected NISAR satellite into the intended orbit, 747 kilometers. I am happy to inform that this is GSLV’s first mission to Sun-synchronous polar orbit. With this successful launch, we are at the threshold of fulfilling the immense scientific potential NASA and ISRO envisioned for the NISAR mission more than 10 years ago,” said ISRO Chairman V Narayanan. “The powerful capability of this radar mission will help us study Earth’s dynamic land and ice surfaces in greater detail than ever before.”
The mission’s two radars will monitor nearly all the planet’s land- and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days, including areas of the polar Southern Hemisphere rarely covered by other Earth-observing radar satellites. The data NISAR collects also can help researchers assess how forests, wetlands, agricultural areas, and permafrost change over time.
“Observations from NISAR will provide new knowledge and tangible benefits for communities both in the U.S. and around the world,” said Karen St. Germain, director, Earth Science division at NASA Headquarters. “This launch marks the beginning of a new way of seeing the surface of our planet so that we can understand and foresee natural disasters and other changes in our Earth system that affect lives and property.”
The NISAR satellite is the first free-flying space mission to feature two radar instruments — an L-band system and an S-band system. Each system is sensitive to features of different sizes and specializes in detecting certain attributes. The L-band radar excels at measuring soil moisture, forest biomass, and motion of land and ice surfaces, while S-band radar excels at monitoring agriculture, grassland ecosystems, and infrastructure movement.
Together, the radar instruments will enhance all of the satellite’s observations, making NISAR more capable than previous synthetic aperture radar missions. Unlike optical sensors, NISAR will be able to “see” through clouds, making it possible to monitor the surface during storms, as well as in darkness and light.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California provided the L-band radar, and ISRO’s Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad developed the S-band radar. The NISAR mission marks the first time the two agencies have co-developed hardware for an Earth-observing mission.
“We’re proud of the international team behind this remarkable satellite. The mission’s measurements will be global but its applications deeply local, as people everywhere will use its data to plan for a resilient future,” said Dave Gallagher, director, NASA JPL, which manages the U.S. portion of the mission for NASA. “At its core is synthetic aperture radar, a technology pioneered at NASA JPL that enables us to study Earth night and day, through all kinds of weather.”
Including L-band and S-band radars on one satellite is an evolution in SAR airborne and space-based missions that, for NASA, started in 1978 with the launch of Seasat. In 2012, ISRO began launching SAR missions starting with Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1), followed by RISAT-1A in 2022, to support a wide range of applications in India.
In the coming weeks, the spacecraft will begin a roughly 90-day commissioning phase during which it will deploy its 39-foot (12-meter) radar antenna reflector. This reflector will direct and receive microwave signals from the two radars. By interpreting the differences between the two, researchers can discern characteristics about the surface below. As NISAR passes over the same locations twice every 12 days, scientists can evaluate how those characteristics have changed over time to reveal new insights about Earth’s dynamic surfaces.
The NISAR mission is an equal collaboration between NASA and ISRO. Managed for the agency by Caltech, NASA JPL leads the U.S. component of the project and is providing the mission’s L-band SAR. NASA also is providing the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem.
Space Applications Centre Ahmedabad, ISRO’s lead center for payload development, is providing the mission’s S-band SAR instrument and is responsible for its calibration, data processing, and development of science algorithms to address the scientific goals of the mission. U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, which leads the ISRO components of the mission, is providing the spacecraft bus. The launch vehicle is from ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, launch services are through ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre, and satellite operations are by ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network. National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad is responsible for S-band data reception, operational products generation, and dissemination.
To learn more about NISAR, visit:
https://nisar.jpl.nasa.gov
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Karen Fox / Elizabeth Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Andrew Wang / Jane J. Lee
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-379-6874 / 818-354-0307
andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 30, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) Earth Science Earth Science Division Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By European Space Agency
Image: The turquoise waters southeast of the Kuwaiti island of Failaka are captured in this image acquired by the Φsat-2 mission. View the full article
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Cloud cover can keep optical instruments on satellites from clearly capturing Earth’s surface. Still in testing, JPL’s Dynamic Targeting uses AI to avoid imaging clouds, yielding a higher proportion of usable data, and to focus on phenomena like this 2015 volcanic eruption in Indonesia Landsat 8 captured.NASA/USGS A technology called Dynamic Targeting could enable spacecraft to decide, autonomously and within seconds, where to best make science observations from orbit.
In a recent test, NASA showed how artificial intelligence-based technology could help orbiting spacecraft provide more targeted and valuable science data. The technology enabled an Earth-observing satellite for the first time to look ahead along its orbital path, rapidly process and analyze imagery with onboard AI, and determine where to point an instrument. The whole process took less than 90 seconds, without any human involvement.
Called Dynamic Targeting, the concept has been in development for more than a decade at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The first of a series of flight tests occurred aboard a commercial satellite in mid-July. The goal: to show the potential of Dynamic Targeting to enable orbiters to improve ground imaging by avoiding clouds and also to autonomously hunt for specific, short-lived phenomena like wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and rare storms.
This graphic shows how JPL’s Dynamic Targeting uses a lookahead sensor to see what’s on a satellite’s upcoming path. Onboard algorithms process the sensor’s data, identifying clouds to avoid and targets of interest for closer observation as the satellite passes overhead.NASA/JPL-Caltech “The idea is to make the spacecraft act more like a human: Instead of just seeing data, it’s thinking about what the data shows and how to respond,” says Steve Chien, a technical fellow in AI at JPL and principal investigator for the Dynamic Targeting project. “When a human sees a picture of trees burning, they understand it may indicate a forest fire, not just a collection of red and orange pixels. We’re trying to make the spacecraft have the ability to say, ‘That’s a fire,’ and then focus its sensors on the fire.”
Avoiding Clouds for Better Science
This first flight test for Dynamic Targeting wasn’t hunting specific phenomena like fires — that will come later. Instead, the point was avoiding an omnipresent phenomenon: clouds.
Most science instruments on orbiting spacecraft look down at whatever is beneath them. However, for Earth-observing satellites with optical sensors, clouds can get in the way as much as two-thirds of the time, blocking views of the surface. To overcome this, Dynamic Targeting looks 300 miles (500 kilometers) ahead and has the ability to distinguish between clouds and clear sky. If the scene is clear, the spacecraft images the surface when passing overhead. If it’s cloudy, the spacecraft cancels the imaging activity to save data storage for another target.
“If you can be smart about what you’re taking pictures of, then you only image the ground and skip the clouds. That way, you’re not storing, processing, and downloading all this imagery researchers really can’t use,” said Ben Smith of JPL, an associate with NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office, which funds the Dynamic Targeting work. “This technology will help scientists get a much higher proportion of usable data.”
How Dynamic Targeting Works
The testing is taking place on CogniSAT-6, a briefcase-size CubeSat that launched in March 2024. The satellite — designed, built, and operated by Open Cosmos — hosts a payload designed and developed by Ubotica featuring a commercially available AI processor. While working with Ubotica in 2022, Chien’s team conducted tests aboard the International Space Station running algorithms similar to those in Dynamic Targeting on the same type of processor. The results showed the combination could work for space-based remote sensing.
Since CogniSAT-6 lacks an imager dedicated to looking ahead, the spacecraft tilts forward 40 to 50 degrees to point its optical sensor, a camera that sees both visible and near-infrared light. Once look-ahead imagery has been acquired, Dynamic Targeting’s advanced algorithm, trained to identify clouds, analyzes it. Based on that analysis, the Dynamic Targeting planning software determines where to point the sensor for cloud-free views. Meanwhile, the satellite tilts back toward nadir (looking directly below the spacecraft) and snaps the planned imagery, capturing only the ground.
This all takes place in 60 to 90 seconds, depending on the original look-ahead angle, as the spacecraft speeds in low Earth orbit at nearly 17,000 mph (7.5 kilometers per second).
What’s Next
With the cloud-avoidance capability now proven, the next test will be hunting for storms and severe weather — essentially targeting clouds instead of avoiding them. Another test will be to search for thermal anomalies like wildfires and volcanic eruptions. The JPL team developed unique algorithms for each application.
“This initial deployment of Dynamic Targeting is a hugely important step,” Chien said. “The end goal is operational use on a science mission, making for a very agile instrument taking novel measurements.”
There are multiple visions for how that could happen — possibly even on spacecraft exploring the solar system. In fact, Chien and his JPL colleagues drew some inspiration for their Dynamic Targeting work from another project they had also worked on: using data from ESA’s (the European Space Agency’s) Rosetta orbiter to demonstrate the feasibility of autonomously detecting and imaging plumes emitted by comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
On Earth, adapting Dynamic Targeting for use with radar could allow scientists to study dangerous extreme winter weather events called deep convective ice storms, which are too rare and short-lived to closely observe with existing technologies. Specialized algorithms would identify these dense storm formations with a satellite’s look-ahead instrument. Then a powerful, focused radar would pivot to keep the ice clouds in view, “staring” at them as the spacecraft speeds by overhead and gathers a bounty of data over six to eight minutes.
Some ideas involve using Dynamic Targeting on multiple spacecraft: The results of onboard image analysis from a leading satellite could be rapidly communicated to a trailing satellite, which could be tasked with targeting specific phenomena. The data could even be fed to a constellation of dozens of orbiting spacecraft. Chien is leading a test of that concept, called Federated Autonomous MEasurement, beginning later this year.
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Melissa Pamer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-314-4928
melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 24, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission launched at 2:13 p.m. EDT atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Credit: SpaceX NASA’s newest mission, TRACERS, soon will begin studying how Earth’s magnetic shield protects our planet from the effects of space weather. Short for Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, the twin TRACERS spacecraft lifted off at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
“NASA is proud to launch TRACERS to demonstrate and expand American preeminence in space science research and technology,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. “The TRACERS satellites will move us forward in decoding space weather and further our understanding of the connection between Earth and the Sun. This mission will yield breakthroughs that will advance our pursuit of the Moon, and subsequently, Mars.”
The twin satellites will fly one behind the other – following as closely as 10 seconds apart over the same location – and will take a record-breaking 3,000 measurements in one year to build a step-by-step picture of how magnetic reconnection changes over time.
Riding along with TRACERS aboard the Falcon 9 were NASA’s Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost), PExT (Polylingual Experimental Terminal), and REAL (Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss) missions – three small satellites to demonstrate new technologies and gather scientific data. These three missions were successfully deployed, and mission controllers will work to contact them over the coming hours and days.
Ground controllers for the TRACERS mission established communications with the second of the two spacecraft at 3:43 p.m. PDT (6:43 p.m. EDT), about 3 hours after it separated from the rocket. During the next four weeks, TRACERS will undergo a commissioning period during which mission controllers will check out their instruments and systems.
Once cleared, the twin satellites will begin their 12-month prime mission to study a process called magnetic reconnection, answering key questions about how it shapes the impacts of the Sun and space weather on our daily lives.
“NASA’s heliophysics fleet helps to safeguard humanity’s home in space and understand the influence of our closest star, the Sun,” said Joe Westlake, heliophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By adding TRACERS to that fleet, we will gain a better understanding of those impacts right here at Earth.”
The two TRACERS spacecraft will orbit through an open region in Earth’s magnetic field near the North Pole, called the polar cusp. Here, TRACERS will investigate explosive magnetic events that happen when the Sun’s magnetic field – carried through space in a stream of solar material called the solar wind – collides with Earth’s magnetic field. This collision creates a buildup of energy that causes magnetic reconnection, when magnetic field lines snap and explosively realign, flinging away nearby particles at high speeds.
Flying through the polar cusp allows the TRACERS satellites to study the results of these magnetic explosions, measuring charged particles that race down into Earth’s atmosphere and collide with atmospheric gases – giving scientist the tools to reconstruct exactly how changes in the incoming solar wind affect how, and how quickly, energy and particles are coupled into near-Earth space.
“The successful launch of TRACERS is a tribute to many years of work by an excellent team,” said David Miles, TRACERS principal investigator at the University of Iowa. “TRACERS is set to transform our understanding of Earth’s magnetosphere. We’re excited to explore the dynamic processes driving space weather.”
Small Satellites Along for Ride
Athena EPIC is a pathfinder mission that will demonstrate NASA’s use of an innovative and configurable commercial SmallSat architecture to improve flexibility of payload designs, reduce launch schedule, and reduce overall costs in future missions, as well as the benefits of working collaboratively with federal partners. In addition to this demonstration for NASA, once the Athena EPIC satellite completes its two-week commissioning period, the mission will spend the next 12 months taking measurements of outgoing longwave radiation from Earth.
The PExT demonstration will test interoperability between commercial and government communication networks for the first time by demonstrating a wideband polylingual terminal in low Earth orbit. This terminal will use software-defined radios to jump between government and commercial networks, similar to cell phones roaming between providers on Earth. These terminals could allow future missions to switch seamlessly between networks and access new commercial services throughout its lifecycle in space.
The REAL mission is a CubeSat that will investigate how energetic electrons are scattered out of the Van Allen radiation belts and into Earth’s atmosphere. Shaped like concentric rings high above Earth’s equator, the Van Allen belts are composed of a mix of high-energy electrons and protons that are trapped in place by Earth’s magnetic field. Studying electrons and their interactions, REAL aims to improve our understanding of these energetic particles that can damage spacecraft and imperil astronauts who pass through them.
The TRACERS mission is led by David Miles at the University of Iowa with support from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. NASA’s Heliophysics Explorers Program Office at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the mission for the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The University of Iowa, Southwest Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, Berkeley, all lead instruments on TRACERS.
The Athena EPIC mission is led by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and is a partnership between National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Space Force, and NovaWurks. Athena EPIC’s launch is supported by launch integrator SEOPS. The PExT demonstration is managed by NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program in partnership with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, with launch support by York Space Systems. The REAL project is led by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and is a partnership between Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Montana State University, and Boston University. Sponsored by NASA’s Heliophysics Division and CubeSat Launch Initiative, it was included through launch integrator Maverick Space Systems.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages the VADR (Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) contract.
To learn more about TRACERS, visit:
https://nasa.gov/tracers
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Abbey Interrante / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
301-201-0124 / 202-358-1600
abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov
Sarah Frazier
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
202-853-7191
sarah.frazier@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 23, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
TRACERS Earth Science Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
A collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation, NISAR will use synthetic aperture radar to monitor nearly all the planet’s land- and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA will provide live coverage of launch activities for NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), which is set to lift off at 8:10 a.m. EDT (5:40 p.m. IST), Wednesday, July 30, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeastern coast.
A collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the first-of-its-kind satellite will lift off aboard an ISRO Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle on a mission to scan nearly all the Earth’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days.
Watch live coverage of the launch on NASA+ and the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
With its two radar instruments — an S-band system provided by ISRO and an L-band system provided by NASA — the NISAR mission will provide high-resolution data to help decision-makers, communities, and scientists monitor major infrastructure, agricultural fields, and movement of land and ice surfaces.
Hailed as a critical part of a pioneering year for United States – India civil space cooperation by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi during their visit in Washington in February, the NISAR launch will advance U.S. – India cooperation and benefit the U.S. in areas such as agriculture and preparation and response to disasters like hurricanes, floods, and volcanic eruptions.
NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Monday, July 28
12 p.m. – Prelaunch teleconference with the following participants:
Karen St. Germain, director of Earth science, NASA Headquarters Gerald Bawden, NISAR program scientist, NASA Headquarters Shanna McClain, Disasters program manager, NASA Headquarters Phil Barela, NISAR project manager, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Marco Lavalle, NISAR deputy project scientist, NASA JPL The teleconference will stream on JPL’s YouTube Channel.
Members of the media may ask questions via phone during the teleconference. To register, media must provide their name and affiliation by 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 27, to Rexana Vizza at: rexana.v.vizza@jpl.nasa.gov. Questions may also be asked via social media with the hashtag #AskNISAR.
Wednesday, July 30
7 a.m. – Launch coverage begins on NASA+ and YouTube.
The launch broadcast begins from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the U.S. portion of the mission is managed.
Follow launch events on NASA’s NISAR blog.
Watch, Engage on Social Media
You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts:
X: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @NASAJPL
Facebook: NASA, NASA Earth, NASA JPL
Instagram: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @NASAJPL
Additional Resources
The NISAR press kit features deeper dives into the mission as well as its science and technology.
Explore NISAR videos as well as NISAR animations and b-roll media reel.
The NISAR mission is the first joint satellite mission between NASA and ISRO, marking a new chapter in the growing collaboration between the two space agencies. The launch of NISAR, years in the making, builds on a strong heritage of successful programs, including Chandrayaan-1 and the recent Axiom Mission-4, which saw ISRO and NASA astronauts living and working together aboard the International Space Station for the first time.
Learn more about the mission at:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/nisar
-end-
Elizabeth Vlock / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov
Andrew Wang / Jane J. Lee
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-379-6874 / 818-354-0307
andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 23, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) Earth Science Division Jet Propulsion Laboratory Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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