This newly launched satellite has just “flowered” a record antenna in orbit

A first satellite of its kind was recently launched in orbit to monitor the changing surfaces of the earth, detecting the movement of the crust of the planet to fractions of a thumb. The satellite has packed a giant radar antenna, folded like an umbrella, and it simply deployed the massive drum -shaped structure through a complex process that brought it to full bloom.

The Nisar mission, a joint effort between NASA and the Indian Space Agency ISRO, was launched on July 30 at the satisfaction of Dhawan Space Center in India. More than two weeks later, the satellite deployed its antenna reflector, which extends over 39 feet (12 meters) wide – the largest ever used on a mission of NASA. The team behind the mission began the process on August 9, unfolding the satellite boom at the same time, then pulling a series of explosive bolts so that it can be deployed and locked up in space.

“We were of course impatient to see the deployment going well. This is an essential element of the Mission of Earth Sciences Nisar and took years to design, develop and test to be ready for this big day,” said Phil Barela, Nisar project manager. “Now that we have launched, we are focusing on the fine setting to start providing transformative sciences at the end of this year.”

Nisar, abbreviation of the NASA-Isro synthetic opening radar, is designed to produce a three-dimensional vision of the earth in unprecedented details. The mission is equipped with the most sophisticated radar system for a NASA mission. The antenna reflector plays a key role for the two synthetic opening radar systems of Nisar (SAR), which use the movement of the radar antenna in its targeted area to create high resolution images.

“The synthetic opening radar, in principle, works as the objective of a camera, which concentrates light to make a clear image,” said Paul Rosen, scientist of the Nisar project at JPL, in a press release. “The size of the lens, called the opening, determines the sharpness of the image.” The first radar system, in L stratchers, can see through the clouds and the forest canopy. The second, a band system provided by the ISRO, can also see through the clouds but is more sensitive to light vegetation and humidity in the snow, according to NASA.

The reflector weighs approximately 142 pounds (64 kilograms) and is delivered with a cylindrical frame composed of 123 composite spacers and a gold -plated metal mesh. At the start of the process, the Nisar boom began to deploy a joint at a time after being returned near the body of the satellite. It took four days for him to extend fully. On August 15, the team pulled a series of small explosive bolts that maintained the assembly of the reflector in place to start what NASA calls the “flowering” process. Thanks to this process, the antenna moved by freeing tensions stored in its flexible setting when it had returned as an umbrella. The team then activated the engines and cables that pulled the antenna to its final shape, flowering in all its glory.

The reflector is as wide as the length of a school bus, allowing Nisar to imagine the surface of the earth to pixels of about 30 feet (10 meters) in diameter. “Using special interferometric techniques that compare images over time, Nisar allows researchers and data users to create 3D changes of changes that occur on the surface of the earth,” said Rosen.