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.
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)
The FAA action came after the midair blowout of a door plug from an Alaska Air Group Inc. 737 Max jet in January 2024, a near-catastrophe that plunged Boeing into crisis and prompted the ouster of then-Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun. The FAA put a cap on Boeing’s production to help get its factories back in order, and the regulator also put more inspectors on the ground.
Boeing said in a statement that it will “continue to work on strengthening our safety culture and improving first-time quality and accountability across our operations.” The FAA said Boeing has 30 days to respond to the agency’s penalty letters, which lay out the violations and proposed fines.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has been working to improve factory quality and stabilize production at higher rates since taking over the job last year. The company is currently stable at the 38-per-month rate, and Ortberg said on Thursday that the planemaker aims to move to 42 by the end of the year.