Himawari 9

Himawari 9 is a Japanese weather satellite, the 9th of the Himawari geostationary weather satellite operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency. The spacecraft was constructed by Mitsubishi Electric, and is the second of two similar satellites to be based on the DS-2000 bus.[2]

Himawari 9
Mission typeWeather satellite
OperatorJMA
COSPAR ID2016-064A[1]
SATCAT no.41836
Mission duration8 years (planned)
Spacecraft properties
BusDS-2000
ManufacturerMitsubishi Electric
Launch mass3500 kg
Dry mass1300 kg
Power2.6 kilowatts from solar array
Start of mission
Launch date06:20:00, November 2, 2016 (UTC) (2016-11-02T06:20:00Z)
RocketH-IIA 202
Launch siteTanegashima LA-Y1
ContractorMitsubishi Heavy Industries
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeGeostationary
Longitude140° East
EpochPlanned
 

Launch

Himawari 9 was launched on 2 November 2016, 06:20:00 UTC, atop a H-IIA rocket flying from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex Pad 1 at the Tanegashima Space Center, and by 11 November 2016 it reached to the geostationary point at 140.7 degrees East.[3] After initial function tests, it was put on standby until 2022, when it will succeed Himawari 8.[4]

The launch was scheduled initially on 1 November 2016, but postponed for one day due to the bad weather forecast.

At launch, the mass of the satellite is about 3,500 kilograms (7,700 lb). It has a design life of 15 years with 8 years of operational life. Power is supplied by a single gallium arsenide solar panel, which provides up to 2.6 kilowatts of power. The main instrument aboard Himawari 9 is a 16 channel multispectral imager to capture visible light and infrared images of the Asian-Pacific region.[5]

As part of an outreach project organized by the Young Astronauts Club Japan the launch also carried manga artwork drawn by Chūya Koyama, author of the Space Brothers manga.[6]

  • The first true-color image from Himawari 9

References
  1. "Himawari 9". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive.
  2. Graham, William. "Japan lofts Himawari 8 weather satellite via H-IIA rocket". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  3. 「ひまわり９号」の静止化の完了について (in Japanese). Japan Meteorological Agency. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  4. "JMA/MSC: Himawari-8/9". Japan Meteorological Agency. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  5. "New geostationary meteorological satellites — Himawari-8/9 —" (PDF). Japan Meteorological Agency. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  6. "Japanese rocket decked out in manga art launches satellite into space". Hindustan Times. 2016-11-02. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
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