The NISAR satellite went into the thermal vacuum chamber at an ISRO center in Bengaluru on October 19. It emerged three weeks later having satisfied all requirements of its efficiency under severe temperature levels and space-like vacuum. Credit: ISRO
Rigorous Testing Procedures
The thermal vacuum test occurred at ISROs Satellite Integration and Test Establishment in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru. Its one of a battery of tests the satellite will face resulting in launch. Other tests will guarantee it can withstand the shaking, vibration, and jostling that it will come across during launch.
NISAR, partially covered in gold-hued thermal blanketing, entered the vacuum chamber on October 19. Over the following week, engineers and service technicians decreased the pressure to an infinitesimal portion of the typical pressure at sea level. They likewise subjected the satellite to an 80-hour “cold soak” at 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius), followed by an equally lengthy “hot soak” at as much as 122 F (50 C). This replicates the temperature level swings the spacecraft will experience as it is exposed to sunshine and darkness in orbit.
The NISAR satellite stayed in this ISRO antenna screening center for 20 days in September as engineers examined the performance of its L- and S-band radar antennas. The foam spikes lining the walls, floor, and ceiling avoid radio waves from bouncing around the room and disrupting measurement. Credit: ISRO
Collaborative Efforts and Future Plans
ISRO and JPL teams worked around the clock throughout the three-week period, evaluating the performance of the satellites thermal systems and its 2 main science instrument systems– the L-band and S-band radars– under the most severe temperature level conditions they will experience in area.
This most current round of screening followed 20 days of screening in September in which engineers used ISROs compact antenna test center to evaluate whether the radio signals from the 2 radar systems antennas passed requirements. Blue foam spikes lining the facilitys walls, flooring, and ceiling prevent radio waves from bouncing around the room and disrupting measurement.
With thermal vacuum and compact antenna tests successfully done, NISAR will quickly be fitted with its photovoltaic panels and its nearly 40-foot (12-meter) radar antenna reflector, which resembles a snare drum and will unfold in space at the end of a 30-foot (9-meter) boom extending from the spacecraft.
The satellite will undergo extra tests before being left and carried about 220 miles (350 kilometers) eastward to Satish Dhawan Space Centre, where it will be installed atop ISROs Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II rocket and sent out into low Earth orbit.
More About the Mission
NISAR is an equivalent partnership in between NASA and ISRO and marks the very first time the two companies have actually cooperated on hardware development for an Earth-observing objective. NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the company by Caltech in Pasadena, California, leads the U.S. element of the task and is providing the missions L-band SAR. NASA is also supplying the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate interaction subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) in Bengaluru, which leads the ISRO part of the objective, is supplying the spacecraft bus, the launch automobile, and associated launch services and satellite mission operations. ISROs Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad is supplying the S-band SAR electronic devices.
In orbit, the satellite will extend its solar panels and nearly 40-foot (12-meter) radar antenna reflector, which resembles a snare drum and will unfold at the end of a 30-foot (9-meter) boom extending from the spacecraft. The NISAR satellite entered the thermal vacuum chamber at an ISRO center in Bengaluru on October 19. The thermal vacuum test happened at ISROs Satellite Integration and Test Establishment in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru. The NISAR satellite remained in this ISRO antenna testing center for 20 days in September as engineers assessed the efficiency of its L- and S-band radar antennas. U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) in Bengaluru, which leads the ISRO element of the mission, is offering the spacecraft bus, the launch vehicle, and associated launch services and satellite objective operations.
After it releases in early 2024, NISAR will scan almost all of the worlds land and ice two times every 12 days. In orbit, the satellite will extend its solar panels and nearly 40-foot (12-meter) radar antenna reflector, which resembles a snare drum and will unfold at the end of a 30-foot (9-meter) boom extending from the spacecraft. Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech
Throughout 3 weeks in a thermal vacuum chamber in Bengaluru, India, the joint NASA-ISRO satellite showed its strength in an extreme, space-like environment.
NISAR, the trailblazing Earth-observing radar satellite being established by the United States and Indian space agencies, passed a significant milestone on November 13, emerging from a 21-day test targeted at examining its capability to function in the extreme temperature levels and the vacuum of space.
NISARs Mission and Capabilities
Brief for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, NISAR is the very first space hardware partnership in between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, on an Earth-observing mission. Arranged to introduce in early 2024, the satellite will scan nearly all the planets land and ice twice every 12 days, keeping an eye on the motion of those surface areas down to fractions of an inch. It will have the ability to observe movements from earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic activity and track vibrant modifications in forests, wetlands, and agricultural lands.