Overview of Japanese Earth observation programs

Abstract

Three programs, i.e. TRMM, ADEOS2 and ASTER, are going on in Japanese Earth Observation programs. TRMM and ASTER are operating well, though TRMM operation after June 2005 is still unclear. ADEOS2 was failed, but AMSR-E on Aqua is operating. After the unfortunate accident of ADEOS2, JAXA still have plans of Earth observation programs. The first satellite which will be launched is ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite). The tentative launch date is 1st, Sep. 2005. ALOS will carry three instruments, i.e., PRISM (Panchromatic Remote Sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping), AVNIR-2 (Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer), and PALSAR (Phased Array L band Synthetic Aperture Radar). PRISM is a 3 line panchromatic push broom scanner with 2.5m IFOV. AVNIR-2 is a 4 channel multi spectral scanner with 10m IFOV. PALSAR is a full polarimetric active phased array SAR. PALSAR has many observation modes including full polarimetric mode and scan SAR mode. Next generation satellites will be launched in 2007-2009 timeframe. They are GOSAT (Greenhouse Gas Observation Satellite), GCOM-W and GCOM-C (ADEOS-2 follow on), and GPM (Global Precipitation Mission) core satellite. GOSAT will carry 2 instruments, i.e. a green house gas sensor and a cloud/aerosol imager. The main sensor is a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) and covers 0.76 to 15 μm region with 0.1 to 0.2 cm-1 resolution. GPM is a joint project with NASA and will carry two instruments. JAXA will develop DPR (Dual frequency Precipitation Radar) which is a follow on of PR on TRMM. Another project is EarthCare. It is a joint project with ESA and JAXA is going to provide CPR (Cloud Profiling Radar). Discussions on future Earth Observation programs have been started including discussions on ALOS F/O.