Artist's Concept of NISAR spacecraft

Artist's Concept

Planned Launch Date: 2024

The NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) Mission will measure Earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces, and ice masses providing information about biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise, and groundwater, and will support a host of other applications.

NISAR will observe Earth’s land and ice-covered surfaces globally with 12-day regularity on ascending and descending passes, sampling Earth on average every 6 days for a baseline 3-year mission.

Mission Characteristics

Orbit Altitude 747 km
Orbit Inclination 98.4°
Repeat Cycle 12 days
Time of Nodal Crossing 6 AM/ 6 PM
Orbit Control < 500 m
Pointing Control < 273 arcsec
Pointing Left (south)
L/S Duty Cycle > 50%/10%
Baseline Mission Duration 3 years
Consumables 5 years
Data and Product Access Free & open
Wavelength L-band: 24 cm
S-band: 9 cm
SAR Resolution 3–10 m mode-dependent