US, India Launch Powerful Earth-Monitoring Satellite

It will track changes on the surface to help predict natural and human-caused hazards

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WASHINGTON — A formidable new radar satellite jointly developed by the United States and India was launched on July 30, 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 at around 5:40 p.m. local time (8:10 p.m. Singapore time) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India's south-eastern coast, riding an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket.

Live streaming 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."