First radar images from new Earth-mapping satellite showcase Maine coast and North Dakota farmland

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This image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech on Aug. 23, 2025, NISAR imaged land adjacent to northeastern North Dakota’s Forest River, light-colored wetlands and forests line the river’s banks, while circular and rectangular plots throughout the image appear in shades that indicate the land may be pasture or cropland with corn or soy. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

In this image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech captured on Aug. 21, 2025, NISAR’s L-band radar shows Maine’s Mount Desert Island, green indicates forest; magenta represents hard or regular surfaces, like bare ground and buildings. The magenta area on the island’s northeast end is the town of Bar Harbor. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) — This image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech on Aug. 23, 2025, NISAR imaged land adjacent to northeastern North Dakota’s Forest River, light-colored wetlands and forests line the river’s banks, while circular and rectangular plots throughout the image appear in shades that indicate the land may be pasture or cropland with corn or soy. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

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12:01 PM on Thursday, September 25

By MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's first radar images from a new Earth-mapping satellite show the Maine coast and North Dakota farmland in incredible detail.

The pictures, released Thursday, are from a spacecraft that rocketed into orbit from India two months ago.

The joint U.S.-Indian mission, worth $1.3 billion, will survey virtually all of the world’s land and ice masses multiple times. By tracking even the slightest shifts in land and ice, the satellite will give forecasters and first responders a leg up in dealing with floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions and other disasters.

NASA said these first pictures are a preview of what’s to come once science operations begin in November.

The satellite, flying 464 miles (747 kilometers) high in a near polar orbit, is called NISAR, short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar. ISRO is the Indian Space Research Organization.

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The story has been updated to correct that one image shows North Dakota, not Minnesota.

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