Chennai, Aug. 16 -- Seventeen days after the launch of world's costliest Earth observation satellite NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar ( NISAR), its 12- metre antenna reflector was successfully unfurled in orbit on August 15 when India was celebrating its Independence Day, said Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) part of USA's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.
On August 15, small explosive bolts that held the reflector assembly in place were fired, enabling the antenna to begin a process called the "bloom", its unfurling by the release of tension stored in its flexible frame while stowed like an umbrella. Subsequent activation of motors and cables then pulled the antenna into its final, locked position, JPL said.
The...