A formidable new radar satellite jointly developed by the United States and India launched Wednesday, designed to track subtle changes in Earth's land and ice surfaces and help predict both natural and human-caused hazards.

NISAR will provide scientists with valuable data as it monitors ice-sheet changes, sea-level rises, ecosystems shifts and more. According to NASA, the satellite will scan forests and wetlands and study both human-driven and natural changes to these environments.

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.