NASA-ISRO jointly developed this Earth observing radar satellite to be launched in..., it will monitor crucial areas like...

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) collaborated on a joint Earth-observing mission, NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR). The USD 1.5 billion mission, the world’s first and most expensive, is set to launch on 16 July in Andhra Pradesh’s Sri Harikota. NISAR, the radar satellite, will measure some key Earth vital signs, including the health of wetlands, ground deformation by volcanoes, and the dynamics of land and sea ice. 

NISAR to monitor earth's surface 

According to NASA’s website, the joint venture will be launched with the goal of making global measurements of the causes and consequences of land surface changes using advanced radar imaging. This mission concept and the resulting partnership are in response to the National Academy of Science’s 2007 survey of Earth observational priorities for the next decade, known as the decadal survey. One of the top priorities identified in this survey was to gain data and insight in three Earth science domains: ecosystems, deformation of Earth's crust, and cryospheric sciences. 

This will help researchers decipher how small-scale processes can cause monumental changes in the ice sheets covering Antarctica and Greenland, as well as on mountain glaciers and sea ice around the world. NISAR will provide the most comprehensive picture to date of motion and deformation of frozen surfaces in Earth's ice- and snow-covered environments, collectively known as the cryosphere.  

The satellite has a massive 12-metre radar antenna with a weight of almost three tonnes. The radar provides real-time information about sensitive issues like farming patterns, climate shifts, earthquakes, landslides and floods. NISAR will be the first satellite mission to use two different radar frequencies (L-band and S-band) to measure changes in our planet's surface less than a centimeter across.  The dual band makes this radar efficient as it can see through dense forests and thick ice-sheets.  

The radar will monitor areas like agricultural monitoring and characterization, landslide studies, Himalayan glacier studies, soil moisture, coastal processes, coastal winds, and monitoring hazards. On 30, September, 2014, NASA and ISRO signed a partnership to collaborate on and launch NISAR.