The US space agency NASA has launched a satellite into space in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) designed to measure changes on the Earth's surface at levels of precision previously unknown.

ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, is the most powerful Earth observation satellite to be put in space, the result of over one decade of research and development by the space agencies of India and the US.

NASA and India have paired up to launch an Earth-mapping satellite capable of tracking the slightest changes in land and ice. Scientists say the $1.3 billion mission will help forecasters and first responders stay one step ahead of floods, landslides and other disasters.