ISRO shares NISAR s-band images for first time

BENGALURU: Long after the launch of the NASA- ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)- NISAR- mission, the ISRO shared the first set of images taken using the S-Band SAR. The colour-coded images included Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu, East of Antarctica, Brahmaputra River in Assam, Idaho in USA , Greenland and Indonesia.Earlier on September 25, 2025, NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) had shared the first set of images taken using the L-Band SAR. These images were shared within 90 days of the launch of mission, the scheduled time for the full-science operation term to commence.The joint mission of NASA-JPL and ISRO was launched on July 30, 2025, using the GSLV-F16 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikotta. While NASA will receive 35 tetrabyte, the National Remote Sensing Centre will receive 8-tetrabyte data and the Antarctica Centre will also receive data. ISRO explained the polarisation highlighting the vegetation, land and waterbodies across Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. The images were taken on July 2 where the scientists noted the composite enhances the discrimation of mangroves, agricultural fields, wetlands and coastal lagoons based on their radar backscatter charecteristics. The images provided information for the coastal resource management and environmental monitoring, the teams noted.East Antarctica image acquired on July 10, showing the glacier terrain, extensive ices sheets, drifting sea ice floes and the region surrounding the southern ocean. .The ISRO team noted the ice features contrasting with the darker open water, giving a clear discrimination of the different cryospheric components.The images also include Vembanad-Kol Wetland- a Ramsar site in Kerala, Mangala Reservoir in Tumkuru in Karnataka, Rennick Glacier in Antarctica, Chilika Coastal Lagoon in Odisha, Ahmedabad in Gujurat, Bhavanagar and surrounding areas, Bihar and River Ganga, Amazon River in Brazil, Koshi Barrage in India, Gulf of Khambhat in Gujarat, City Bata in Equitoriam Guinea and Mildura City in Australia. The image of Bramhaputra River basin in Assam captured on July 9, showed the charectarization of the hydrological and land-cover features of the region, supporting floodplain mapping and environmental monitoring.According to ISRO, the NISAR satellite is operating in a 747 km Sun-synchronous orbit, and is aimed at providing all-weather global coverage with a 12-day repeat cycle..Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp Download the TNIE app to stay with us and follow the latest