India, us to launch jointly developed satellite in 2021

The Indian Space Research Organisation and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are jointly working on the development of Dual Frequency (L&S band) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Imaging Satellite named NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), slated to be completed and launched by 2021. ISRO will be responsible for the design and development of S-band SAR, while the NASA laboratory will be responsible for the design and development of L-band SAR. The data obtained from this satellite will be useful for a variety of applications, such as natural resources mapping & monitoring; estimating agricultural biomass over full duration of crop cycle; assessing soil moisture etc.