Scientists and engineers working at the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) satellite centre in Bangalore. File.   | Photo Credit: AFP

The ISRO-NASA joint mission NISER (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite, aimed at making global measurement of land surface changes using advanced radar imaging, is proposed to be launched in early 2023, Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday.

In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, he said NISAR is a joint Earth-Observation mission between ISRO and U.S. space agency NASA for global observations over all land masses including the Polar cryosphere and the Indian Ocean region.

"NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISER) has not been launched yet. NISER is proposed to be launched in early 2023," said Mr. Singh, who also is the minister for the Department of Space.

It is a dual-band (L-band and S-band) radar imaging mission with the capability of full polarimetric and interferometric modes of operation to observe minor changes in land, vegetation and cryosphere.

NASA is developing L-band SAR and associated systems while ISRO is developing S-band SAR, spacecraft bus, the launch vehicle and associated launch services, Singh said.

The major scientific objectives of the mission are to improve understanding of the impact of climate change on Earth's changing ecosystems, land and coastal processes, land deformations and cryosphere, he said.

NISER is one of the crucial collaborations of the ISRO and NASA. India and the U.S. had agreed upon this mission during then President Barack Obama's visit to India in 2015.

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This study was completed before the emergence of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 now dominating in the U.K.