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India, U.S. to jointly launch satellite to study quakes, volcanoes

Xinhua, April 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

India and the United States are jointly building a satellite that will be launched in space within five years to help study earthquakes and volcanoes, officials have said.

The satellite, which will be launched by state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and U.S. space agency NASA, is called NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar or NISAR.

The satellite will observe and study ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse and natural hazards like quakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides, according to officials.

"The US is providing L-Band. It will help us look at crustal deformation. We are actually hoping to launch it by 2020-21," NASA Administrator Charles Frank Bolden said in the national capital Monday.

He added: "We are looking for hints at earthquake detection. We cannot predict earthquake but we can advise people where it has occurred."

According to ISRO's A.S. Kiran Kumar, India will provide the S-Band and the payload will be integrated at NASA, which in turn gets integrated on the satellite.

"So, currently the activities are going on in full swing. Both the governments have cleared the basic mission. We are looking at a possible launch with 2021," he added. Endit