ALOS 2 (Daichi 2)

ALOS 2 [JAXA]

ALOS 2 (Advanced Land Observation Satellite 2) or Daichi 2 is a radar Earth observation satellite to be used for cartography, regional observation, disaster monitoring, and resource surveying. It is the follow up to the radar component of ALOS (Daichi).

The state-of-the-art L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) aboard ALOS-2, which is an active microwave radar using the 1.2 GHz frequency range, which, in responding to society's needs, has enhanced performance compared to DAICHI/PALSAR. The SAR is capable of observing day and night, and in all weather conditions.

ALOS-2 has a spotlight mode (1 to 3 m) and a high resolution mode (3 to 10 m), whilst PALSAR has a 10 m resolution. It allows comprehensive monitoring of disasters by providing users with more detailed data than DAICHI/PALSAR. The observation frequency of ALOS-2 is improved by greatly expanding the observable range of the satellite up to about 3 times, through an improvement in observable areas (from 870 km to 2,320 km), as well as giving ALOS-2 a right-and-left looking function, currently not available on DAICHI/PALSAR.

ALOS-2 is also equipped with the Automatic Identification System for ships (AIS) receiver so that the satellite will also monitor oceans by receiving AIS signals from vessels. The SPace based AIS Experiment (SPAISE2) is a high performance satellite AIS. SPAISE2 development is JAXA's ongoing project in cooperation with NEC Corporation.