In July 2025, NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched NISAR, a revolutionary Earth-observing satellite designed to capture our planet’s dynamic surface like never before. Using two advanced radar systems, NISAR can detect even the smallest shifts in land and ice, down to centimeters, through clouds, darkness, and extreme weather.
Dr. Cathleen Jones, JPL’s NISAR mission applications lead, explains what makes this mission a milestone in Earth science. She shares how NISAR’s dual radar technology allows scientists to monitor everything from volcanic activity and glacial movement to earthquakes, floods and shoreline erosion. Dr. Jones also shares how the mission’s massive flow of data will support emergency management, resource planning and long-term environmental research across the globe.
It is a conversation about innovation, collaboration and how a spacecraft orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth will help us understand and protect the only home we have.
