NASA has issued a new Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) program element supporting the NISAR Data, Applications, Research, and Technology (DART) team. The call invites proposals that leverage the NASA-ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite's dual-frequency L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar observations to advance Earth system science and applications.
NISAR will provide global, repeat coverage of Earth’s land and ice surfaces with a 12-day orbit cycle, enabling detailed interferometric and backscatter analysis across geosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, and hydrosphere domains.
All L-band NISAR data products, estimated at approximately 30 petabytes per year, will be archived and distributed by the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center (ASF DAAC). Data access will be available through ASF Vertex and Earthdata Login.
A small sample of L-band products is already publicly available, allowing prospective investigators to explore product structure and begin developing workflows ahead of larger releases planned for 2026. Proposers are encouraged to review the ASF NISAR Data User Guide and available training materials when preparing submissions.
Through this ROSES element, NASA seeks proposals that address one or more NISAR mission objectives or stakeholder needs, including:
- Quantifying Earth surface deformation
- Improving understanding of carbon storage and ecosystem change
- Monitoring cryosphere dynamics and sea level rise
- Constraining global soil moisture patterns
- Supporting hazard response, agriculture, and infrastructure monitoring.
This program element requires a two-step proposal process:
- Step-1 proposals due: March 13, 2026
- Step-2 proposals due: May 14, 2026
Selected investigators will form the NISAR DART team and collaborate with NASA's Earth Science Division to accelerate scientific discovery, data innovation, and application development using NISAR observations.
Questions related to NISAR data access and cloud resources may be directed to ASF User Services at uso@asf.alaska.edu.
Full proposal instructions are available via NSPIRES under ROSES-2025.