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.

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.

Unlike optical sensors, the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) at the heart of the Nisar mission doesn’t rely on visible light. SAR uses microwaves, allo