Laurie Leshin, Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, praised ISRO’s achievements during her visit to Bangalore in November 2023, highlighting the joint NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission as a model of equal collaboration and expressing enthusiasm for future cooperation beyond Earth sciences.
The Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Laurie Leshin, expressed deep admiration for the accomplishments of the Indian Space Research Organisation during her visit to Bengaluru on 14 November 2023.
Speaking to ANI, she emphasised that NASA is learning a great deal from ISRO and that the collaboration between the two agencies has been marked by exceptional teamwork and mutual respect.
She noted that colleagues from JPL have been working shoulder to shoulder with ISRO scientists, creating an atmosphere of incredible collaboration and shared learning.
Leshin specifically referred to the NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar mission, known as NISAR, which is scheduled for launch in early 2024.
This mission represents the first time NASA and ISRO have cooperated on hardware development for an Earth‑observing satellite. NISAR is designed to track movements of Earth’s land and ice surfaces in extremely fine detail, providing critical data on environmental changes.
Leshin explained that in India, the mission will help monitor coastal mangrove ecosystems, while globally it will provide insights into ice sheet dynamics, earthquakes, and volcanic activity. She stressed that the mission is almost a fifty‑fifty partnership between NASA and ISRO, underscoring the equal contributions of both agencies.
The satellite will revisit nearly every part of the planet at least once every twelve days, enabling scientists to study forests, wetlands, and agricultural lands with unprecedented precision. Leshin highlighted that scientists from both agencies are working closely to ensure maximum utilisation of the data that will be transmitted from the spacecraft.
She also expressed optimism about extending cooperation beyond Earth sciences, mentioning potential future missions to the Moon and Mars as areas where NASA and ISRO could collaborate.
From the American side, JPL, managed by Caltech in Pasadena, is providing the L‑band synthetic aperture radar, the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high‑rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid‑state recorder, and a payload data subsystem.
On the Indian side, ISRO’s U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bangalore is delivering the spacecraft bus, the S‑band SAR electronics, the launch vehicle, and associated launch services and satellite mission operations.
Leshin’s visit also included discussions with former ISRO Chairman S Somanath about NISAR’s readiness for launch and opportunities for future cooperation, including professional exchanges in technical areas and space exploration.
Her remarks reflected the growing stature of ISRO in the global space community and the recognition of India’s engineering and scientific capabilities. The collaboration on NISAR not only strengthens bilateral ties between NASA and ISRO but also sets a precedent for future joint missions that could extend humanity’s reach deeper into space.
ANI
