India Ready to Launch the world’s most expensive Satellite in March 2025

TThis year, 2025, will be remarkable for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) as it is going to send the world’s most expensive satellite into orbit. It is probable to be launched in March. Union Minister Jitendra Singh stated that this satellite has been developed in cooperation with ISRO and the American space agency NASA. The cost is ₹ 12,505 crore (ie. $1.5 billion) and thereby this is touted to be the costliest satellite ever built till now. Every 12 days, this satellite will take pictures of every inch of the earth. It will observe the disturbances at the ground level of the ecosystem and the changing weather conditions around the world. By doing so, it would help in predicting natural calamities on Earth with a good amount of preparation time.

NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) is the name given to this satellite. It weighs around 2,600 kg (ie. 2.8 tonnes). NASA and ISRO signed a memorandum of understanding in September 2014, wherein both would share joint efforts on the mission NISAR and its eventual launch. The targeted date for this mission was in 2024, but it was pushed back, given the COVID-19 epidemic scenario. NASA has made provisions for the L-band synthetic aperture radar, a high-rate communication subsystem for scientific data, a GPS receiver, a solid-state recorder, and a payload data subsystem for this mission. Whereas, ISRO has made provisions for spacecraft, S-band radar, launch vehicle, and related launch services for this historic mission. This satellite is going to be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Center through the GSLV-MK 2 rocket from ISRO.