NASA gifts ISRO chief 'lucky peanuts' before shipping NISAR satellite to India for launch

The ISRO-NASA-made NISAR satellite will soon be on its way to India for its launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in 2024. Before shipping the Earth-observation satellite, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) carried on its longstanding tradition and handed over a jar of 'lucky peanuts' to ISRO Chairman S Somanath. The Indian delegation visited JPL's cleaning room on February 4 to see NISAR’s advanced radar instruments up close accompanied by JPL Director Laurie Leshin and other dignitaries from NASA headquarters.

Today was all about NISAR!

It’s nearly time for the scientific heart of this @NASAEarth satellite to head to southern India ahead of its planned 2024 launch, so of course, we had to send it off in true JPL style. https://t.co/dNvZEP1pBa pic.twitter.com/cgkAqQk4iR

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL)

Leshin presented Somanath with a jar of the 'lucky peanuts' while NASA’s NISAR Project Manager Phil Barela and ISRO’s NISAR Project Director CV Shrikant ceremonially broke fresh coconuts outside the facility. While breaking coconuts on a special occasion is a tradition in India, peanuts form a special part of NASA's spaceflight missions. The story dates back to 1964 when on the launch day of the Ranger 7 Moon probe an engineer named Dick Wallace passed on peanuts to his colleagues to calm their nerves and suppress the anxiety in the room. The success of the Ranger 7 mission ensured that peanuts are passed around the mission control room during critical mission days. 

As for NISAR, it stands for NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar and will launch next year to measure Earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces, and ice masses and gain information about biomass, natural hazards, sea-level rise, and groundwater. More about it here. 

“Today we come one step closer to fulfilling the immense scientific potential NASA and ISRO envisioned for NISAR when we joined forces more than eight years ago,” Somanath said while at the JPL facility. “This mission will be a powerful demonstration of the capability of radar as a science tool and help us study Earth’s dynamic land and ice surfaces in greater detail than ever before.”

The ISRO Chief is currently on a visit to the US and he led the Indian delegation which engaged in a conversation with representatives of the US government on February 4 over space-related matters. 

Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman @isro 🇮🇳 led Indian delegation had an engaging conversation with #India-U.S. Government and Industry representatives at 🇺🇸 U.S. Chamber of Commerce organized by @USIBC. pic.twitter.com/sXt8uzHROQ

— India in USA (@IndianEmbassyUS)