Advanced Land Observation Satellite

infobox spacecraft
Name = ALOS
Organization = JAXA's Earth Observation Research and Application Center
Mission_Type = Earth observation
Satellite_Of = Earth
Launch = 24 January 2006 on a H-IIA rocket
Launch_Site = Tanegashima Space Center
Mission_Duration = 3-5 years
Mass = 4000 kg
Webpage = [http://alos.jaxa.jp/index-e.html alos.jaxa.jp/index-e.html]
Orbital_elements = yes
Apogee = 697 km
Inclination = 98.2 degrees
Orbital_Period = 98.74 minutes
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. JAXA hopes to be able to launch the successors to ALOS during FY2011. For minimizing risk JAXA plans to split the mission up into two satellites. [http://www.gewex.org/PAN-GEWEX-MTG/2006Pan-G_Oki-JAXA.pdf]

It also has a PALSAR sensor that showed uplifted land in the September 2007 Sumatra earthquakes.

On January 8, 2008, it turned out that ALOS had lack of accuracy. [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5iq_BbE3WwyCvOmxfWDvfSJzXlg]

External links

* [http://alos.jaxa.jp/index-e.html ALOS web page]
* [http://www.jaxa.jp/missions/projects/sat/eos/alos/index_e.html JAXA mission page]
* [http://www.isprs.org/istanbul2004/comm1/papers/57.pdf Paper on ALOS]
* [http://www.palsar.ersdac.or.jp/e/about/index.html PALSAR sensor page]

ee also

*List of spaceflights (2006)