NISAR Reflector Returned to NASA for Essential Heat-Shielding Coating

Space News ,India :-  NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) recently took an interesting step to keep their mission running smoothly. The reflector dish, which is like a big mirror, at the center of their joint project, called the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), had to travel from India to the United States and back again. This was because there were some possible issues that needed special attention.

The reflector dish, which is covered in a thin layer of gold, is very important for the NISAR spacecraft. It helps to gather information about Earth by focusing radar signals.

When ISRO was testing the equipment, they found out that the reflector dish could get too hot in space. This could have caused problems when they tried to unfold it during the mission.

To fix this problem, NASA decided to put a special coating on the reflector dish. This coating would help to reflect sunlight, keeping the temperature under control.

A NASA plane called a C-130 cargo aircraft flew the reflector dish back from Bangalore, India to a special lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. There, they applied the special coating. After that, the reflector dish will go back to India to be put back into the NISAR spacecraft.

This unexpected twist shows how NASA and ISRO are committed to solving any problems that come up during their joint project. By taking this step, they make sure that the reflector dish can keep doing its job well, gathering important information about Earth for the NISAR mission.