GCOM W1

Global Change Observation Mission - Water
Also called Shizuku

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General

Designation	38337 / 12025A
Launch date	17 May 2012
Country of origin	Japan
Mission	Remote sensing
Perigee/Apogee	700 km, sun-synchronous
Inclination	98.2°
Period
Launch vehicle	H2A #30

Carries the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), a remote sensing instrument for measuring weak microwave emission from the surface and the atmosphere of the Earth.
AMSR2 will provide highly accurate measurements of the intensity of microwave emission. It enables the observation of water-related targets such as precipitation, water vapor, sea surface wind speed, sea surface temperature, soil moisture, and snow depth.

The antenna of the AMSR2 rotates once per 1.5 seconds and obtains data over a 1,450 km swath. This conical scan mechanism enables the AMSR2 to acquire a set of daytime and nighttime data with more than 99% coverage of the Earth every two days.

The AMSR2 is a successor to the AMSR on the Japanese Adeos 2 and the AMSR-E on EOS PM-1 a NASA satellite. Part of the "A-train"

1991 kg at launch

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External resources

http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/gcom_w/index_e.html

sat-index articles

n2yo.com tracking

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