When NASA’s latest satellite mission scans the entire Earth, there will be technology developed at Michigan State University that will provide unprecedented information to help farmers make farm management decisions from crop planting to harvesting.   

In a first-time collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, in India, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, mission is scheduled to launch July 30, 2025. The satellite will circle the Earth at an altitude of 747 kilometers, or 464 miles, for the next three years. The goal of the mission is to monitor Earth’s changing surface while following the growth of crops from planting to harvesting. This information could provide new insights into agricultural practices that determine the timing for planting crops or irrigating. 

Narendra Das, an associate professor in MSU’s College of Engineering, is a member of NASA’s NISAR science team. He created the algorithm that includes the steps and software that uses the data from NISAR’s Synthetic Aperture Radar, or SAR, to create an image revealing  levels of soil moisture at a resolution of approximately 100 to 200 meters.