NASA administrator to visit India to discuss space cooperation

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has planned a trip to India and the UAE for a series of meetings with important government officials. During the visit, Nelson will also meet with space officials in both countries to enhance collaboration on a wide range of research and innovation-related areas, particularly in the fields of Human Exploration and Earth Science. The American space agency, NASA, stated that Nelson's visit to India will fulfill a commitment made under the US and India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, which President Joe Biden initiated.

In the India leg, Nelson will visit several locations, including the Bengaluru-based facilities where the NISAR spacecraft, a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and its Indian counterpart ISRO, is undergoing testing and integration for launch in 2024.

NISAR is a groundbreaking Earth-observing instrument that marks the first satellite mission between NASA and ISRO. It is also the first instrument in the Earth System Observatory that will provide critical measurements about Earth's dynamic surfaces, changing ecosystems, and ice masses. By gathering information about biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise, and groundwater, NISAR will enable us to make informed decisions about climate change, agriculture, hazard mitigation, and more. Its invaluable insights will guide efforts to safeguard our planet's future.

Laurie Leshin, Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), recently said that scientists from both space agencies ISRO and NASA are working closely on the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission to help make sure that they make the most out of the data that will be coming down from the spacecraft.

"We are so excited to be working between NASA and ISRO on NISAR, which is a radar machine to looks at the surface of the earth and how it is changing. In India, they are interested in understanding how the mangrove environment at the coasts is changing. We will understand how ice sheets are changing and how earthquakes and volcanoes are happening all over the world. There are many different aspects to understanding our earth better", Leshin said. NISAR is an equal collaboration between NASA and ISRO and marks the first time the two agencies have cooperated on hardware development for an Earth-observing mission.