THEY WERE ON each other’s radar, their wavelengths matched and it was a coming together like no other. No, romance was not in the air, but a rocket soon would be.
The rocket—the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II (GSLV-Mk II)—will carry the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR). The launch date is set for early next year. The GSLVMk II will unload NISAR at an orbit 747km above Earth.
NISAR, to put it simply, will perhaps be the fanciest, high-tech version of a camera out there. Only, it will produce fine-resolution images of the Earth’s land and ice surfaces, helping measure the changing ecosystem and provide data about natural hazards, sea level rise and groundwater level. NISAR will be on a three-year mission, observing the planet every 12 days, morning and evening, come rain or shine. This is the first-ever collaboration between NASA and ISRO on an Earth-observing mission. And, NISAR is likely to be the most expensive satellite—$1.5 billion. That is probably because its payload will be the most advanced radar system ever launched.
A rocket’s payload can be a satellite, a space probe or a spacecraft carrying humans. NISAR’s payload is a satellite, consisting of two radar systems—the 24cm-wavelength L-band built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in South California, and the 10cm-wavelength S-band built by ISRO. The S-band was shipped to JPL in March 2021. The two bands were integrated and tests were done to check if they work well together. And, on March 6 this year, the payload was flown in to ISRO’s U.R. Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru.
Denne historien er fra July 02, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July 02, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Trump and the crisis of liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.
