Delays The satellite was fully integrated in January 2024 and was performing its final testing and analysis in preparation for launch. Tests found that the large primary radar reflector might face higher-than-expected temperatures when stowed during flight and so it was returned to
JPL, its manufacturer in
California, to apply a reflective coating to mitigate the risk of overheating. It was the first GSLV Mk II launch to Low Earth orbitand to SSPO On 15 October 2024, after the completion of all checks and tests, NASA's
C-130 took off from
Wallops Flight Facility in
Virginia to embark on the multi-leg, multi-day journey to India. The flight first stopped at
March Air Reserve Base to retrieve the spacecraft followed by strategic stops at
Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii;
Andersen Air Force Base,
Guam;
Clark Air Base,
Philippines and reached
HAL Airport in
Bengaluru, India. By late January 2025, the satellite had finished all preliminary checkout in Bengaluru and was ready to be shipped to SDSC. By May 14 technicians had placed the satellite in a specialized container and transported it about 360 kilometers by truck to
Satish Dhawan Space centre, where it arrived following day.
Launch NISAR lifted off aboard an ISRO
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket at 5:40 p.m. IST on the 30th of July 2025. ISRO ground controllers in
Bengaluru began communicating with NISAR about 18 minutes after launch, at just after 8:29 a.m. EDT, and confirmed it is operating as expected. It was the GSLV rocket’s first mission to
Sun-synchronous polar orbit. The satellite will enter a 90-day Checkout phase and deploy its primary Radar reflector before beginning of its operational life. The orbit will be a
Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO), dawn-to-dusk type. The planned mission life is 5 years. NISAR captured its first SAR images using its L-SAR on August 23rd over
Mount Desert Island in
Maine and parts of the
Forest River in
North Dakota. It was officially commissioned into scientific service and declared operational on November 7 2025; capturing its first operational pictures of the
Godavari River Delta.It was declared fully operational in January 2026.
Service NRSC has utilised the first series of NISAR data created in February 2026 to create soil moisture maps of parts covering central India and the Indo-gangetic plains at a 100 x 100 meter resolution. Research data from early December 2025 has been made avialable at the Bhoonidhi portal. In March 2026, NISAR made observations of the Northwest Pacific coastline, focusing on vegetation around
Mount Ranier and
Mount Saint Helens as well as the cities of
Seattle and
Portland. In April, NISAR data on
land subsidence revealed that parts of
Mexico city sank two centimeters into the ground every month during the dry season, due to heavy urban development and groundwater pumping over the past 100 years. ==Gallery==