Advanced Land Observation Satellite
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Organization | JAXA's Earth Observation Research and Application Center |
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Mission Type | Earth observation |
Satellite of | Earth |
Launch | January 24, 2006 on a H-IIA rocket |
Launch site | Tanegashima Space Center |
Mission duration | 3-5 years |
Launch Mass | 4000 kg |
Webpage | alos.jaxa.jp/index-e.html |
Orbital elements | |
Apogee | 697 km |
Eccentricity | |
Inclination | 98.2 degrees |
Orbital Period | 98.74 minutes |
Right ascension of the ascending node | |
Argument of perigee | |
Instruments | |
PRISM | Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instruments for Stereo Mapping, to measure precise land elevation |
AVNIR-2 | Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type 2, which observes what covers land surfaces. 10-meter resolution at nadir. |
PALSAR | Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, which enables day-and-night and all-weather land observation |
Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS), also called Daichi, is a 4-ton Japanese satellite. It was launched from Tanegashima island, Japan on January 24, 2006 by a H-IIA rocket. The launch had been delayed three times by weather and sensor problems. This was the first Japanese launch since July 2005.
The satellite contains three sensors which will be used to map terrain in Asia and the Pacific.