Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA launched the NISAR satellite aboard the GSLV-F16 went on July 30, 2025, at 5:40 p.m. After 18 minutes later it injected its satellite into the orbit of the Sun. It has successfully and accurately injected the NISAR satellite, which weighs 2,392 kg, into its intended orbit, as said by V. Narayanan, the chairman of ISRO. This satellite has a life of five years and is the first satellite which has been developed by ISRO in collaboration with NASA.

According to the Deputy Associate Administrator at NASA, NISAR will provide decision makers with the tools for monitoring the critical infrastructure, which responds faster and is smart enough to predict natural disasters such as floods, landslides and earthquakes, and also map farm land to enhance the output of the crops and further.

NISAR’s Applications

NISAR is going to scan the Earth and offer all-weather, night and day data at an interval of 12 hours and allow a wide range of applications. It can even detect minute changes on the Earth’s surface, including ice sheet movement, ground deformation and vegetation. Furthermore, it consists of ship detection, sea ice classification, shoreline monitoring, changes in soil moisture, mapping of water resources surface, disaster response and storm characterisation.

NASA reported that the spacecraft provides signals for mission controllers for the NASA-ISRO NISAR mission. NISAR is going to observe Earth at a swath of 242 km and a high resolution with the help of SweepSAR technology for the first time.

The launch phase of the GLSV-F16 rocket was accomplished on July 30, 2025, and at the time of the deployment phase, a 12-meter reflector antenna will deploy in orbit, which will be at nine meters from the satellite by the complex multistage deployable boom. This process will start on the 10th day after the launch. Further, the commissioning phase will be followed, which is going to be 90 days.

Relief to ISRO

It is really a kind of relief to launch the satellite successfully by ISRO in collaboration with NASA, as the previous launch on May 18, 2025, wasn’t accomplished because of a glitch. Prior to this, the NVS-02 satellite also suffered a setback on January 29, 2025.

SpaceX launched its next batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The Starlink 10-29 mission added another 28 satellites into the low Earth orbit megaconstellation. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 11:37 p.m. EDT (0337 GMT on July 30) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

After a nine minute climb into space, the 28 Starlink broadband internet satellites (group 10-29) were on track to be deployed into their intended orbit. After payload deployment, the Falcon 9 first stage separated and successfully landed on the ocean-going droneship “Just Read the Instructions”, positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.

This mission notably marked the 26th flight for the Falcon 9’s first stage, booster B1069, which has been a part of missions include diverse payloads such as CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19, alongside 22 other Starlink deployments.

Implications for Starlink and SpaceX

According to satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, the Starlink constellation now includes over 8,050 active satellites (out of more than 9,300 launched since 2018). The growing fleet is intended to provide high-speed internet worldwide, and each launch like this one adds capacity and coverage. The mission also highlights SpaceX’s extraordinary launch cadence and technical progress.

It was the company’s 96th launch of 2025, reflecting a packed schedule and intense operational tempo. Two more missions were scheduled later that week — another Starlink launch from California and NASA’s Crew-11 flight to the International Space Station. The repeated reuse of boosters (as evidenced by B1069’s 26 flights) is central to lowering costs and sustaining this ambitious cadence.

Hundreds waited at the ready outside the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on Monday (July 28), when “the doors opened for access to five featured and newly renovated galleries that capture the history, contemporary status, and futuristic vision of aviation and space exploration. These refurbished spaces showcase a mix of historic and high-tech artifacts such as John Glenn’s “Friendship 7” capsule, pieces of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and a 3D-printed Mars habitat. Visitors were among the first to experience a sweeping display of innovation, housed within the museum’s revitalised main building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Smithsonian’s $900M Overhaul Brings Futuristic Space Exhibits and Aviation History to Life

As per a Smithsonian statement, the reimagined exhibits are part of a $900 million full-building transformation launched in 2018, scheduled for completion by July 2026—the museum’s 50th anniversary. This phase marks the second group of reopened galleries since the start of 2022. After a three-year closure, the north entrance opened for the first time, leading visitors through a newly wing-shaped vestibule and into “Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall”, now with improved lighting, digital screens, and iconic artefacts.

Next to it, a new “Futures in Space” gallery showcases domestic exhibitions from private space companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and Axiom Space. Rather than a chronological or program-based layout, the gallery explores philosophical and practical questions about space: Who decides who goes? Why do we venture out? What will we do once we arrive? The immersive layout blends historical items, contemporary designs, and even pop culture references.

The museum has reopened galleries such as “Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight”, “World War I: The Birth of Military Aviation”, and “Allan and Shelley Holt Innovations Gallery”, and the upgraded Lockheed Martin IMAX Theatre, praised as educational and inspirational.

Despite free entry, the Smithsonian Museum reopened to more than 6,000 guests, who must pick up timed-entry passes in order to better manage crowd flow.