US, India launch powerful Earth-monitoring satellite

A formidable new radar satellite jointly developed by the United States and India launched, designed to track subtle changes in Earth's land and ice surfaces and help predict both natural and human-caused hazards.

- 

Dubbed NISAR (Nasa-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), the pickup truck-sized spacecraft blasted off around 5:40 pm (1210 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeastern coast, riding an ISRO Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket.

Livestream of the event showed excited schoolchildren brought to watch the launch and mission teams erupting in cheers and hugging.

Highly anticipated by scientists, the mission has also been hailed by US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a milestone in growing cooperation between the two countries.

"Congratulations India!" Dr Jitendra Singh, India’s science and technology minister wrote on X, calling the mission a “game changer.”

"Our planet surface undergoes constant and meaningful change," Karen St Germain, director of NASA's Earth Science division, told reporters ahead of launch.

"Some change happens slowly. Some happens abruptly. Some changes are large, while some are subtle."