The U.S. and India just launched NISAR, a powerful radar satellite that will be able to monitor changes in Earth's surface that are as small as a centimeter.

After integration, IRIS was shipped to India for integration into the NISAR satellite at the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) in Bengaluru. URSC finished NISAR before ISRO moved the satellite to the launch site, and the payload arrived at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on June 12.

India launched on Wednesday a $1.5 billion, first-of-its-kind radar imaging satellite built in collaboration with NASA, deploying it to help enhance global monitoring of climate change and natural disasters.