After ISRO, IIT Kharagpur might soon join hands with NASA too

New Delhi: IIT Kharagpur has successfully partnered with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) over the last four years on much publicized projects like Chandrayaan, Mangalyaan and Scatterometer which is a radar designed to measure oceanic winds.
Now, two scientists from the premier research agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have visited IIT Kharagpur – possibly for a tie-up with the institution.

NASA and ISRO might also partner on a futuristic radar technology mission called NI-SAR, which is yet to receive final clearance from the Indian and the American government.

If NI-SAR proves successful, it will be able to predict natural calamities like earthquakes, tidal wave surge, melting of glaciers and rise in sea level.The high-profile Kalpana Chawla Space Research Centre at IIT Kharagpur is already leading radar-related research which can be successfully used for NI-SAR related research in the future, which is expected to cost about $100 million.

ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan is an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus and this might prove to be of value for IIT KGP collaboration efforts.

This post was written by Aditya Singhal, co-founder of askIITians.