NASA, ISRO to launch joint Earth-observing satellite on July 30

LOS ANGELES -- NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have scheduled the launch of their joint Earth-observing mission for July 30, NASA announced Monday.

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite is set to lift off aboard an ISRO Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle from ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre, located on India's southeastern coast.

The mission marks a milestone in space cooperation between the United States and India. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed NISAR as a critical part of a pioneering year for US-India civil space cooperation.

NISAR will be the first satellite equipped with both L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radars. It is designed to scan nearly all of Earth's land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days, according to NASA.

The satellite will monitor changes in terrestrial ecosystems, track the growth and retreat of ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice, and measure tectonic shifts in Earth's crust.

NASA said the mission's data will be made freely available to global users across disciplines, with potential applications in disaster response, infrastructure monitoring and agricultural planning.