A first-of-its-kind satellite has launched to track nearly imperceptible changes on Earth’s surface, an effort that could aid with responses to natural disasters. Called the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar mission, or NISAR, the spacecraft is equipped with two kinds of
synthetic aperture radar designed by the US space agency and the Indian Space Research Organization in the countries’ first joint satellite project.
The radar, pioneered by NASA to use in space, works like conventional radar in that it uses microwaves to detect distant surfaces and objects. But advanced data processing enables the details to be seen at high resolution.
