The NASA-ISRO Satellite Aperture RADAR (NISAR) mission is an Earth observation satellite jointly built by the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) at NASA and ISRO, India. The mission would enable detailed observation of earth’s land and ice mass at an unprecedented scale and precision.

The satellite, set to launch in early 2024, is at ISRO’s Satellite Integration and Test Establishment at Bengaluru, where it just passed a key test.

Research Matters caught up with Dr M D Madhusudan, one of the researchers involved in developing a high-resolution map of Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) in India, to gain insights into their work. Here are excerpts from the interview.