The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are gearing up to launch the NISAR satellite in the first quarter of 2024.
The announcement comes after a high-profile meeting between a NASA delegation, led by administrator Bill Nelson, and India’s Minister of State for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh.
NISAR is a low earth orbit observatory being jointly developed by NASA and ISRO to map the entire globe in 12 days and provide data for understanding changes in Earth and its climate. The satellite is expected to be worth nearly $1 billion.
During the meeting, Administrator Bill Nelson expressed NASA’s openness to supporting India in building its own space station, thereby deepening the collaboration between the two space agencies. The United States and India are actively working on plans to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station by the close of 2024.
“We expect by that time to have a commercial space station. I think India wants to have a commercial space station by 2040. If India wants us to collaborate with them, of course, we will be available. But that’s up to India,” Nelson said.
