MTSAT-2

Launch data: Designation  28937 / 06004A Launch date  18 Feb 2006 - 06:27 UT Launch site  Tanegashima Launch vehicle  H-2A (2024) Mission  Comsat / Meteorology Geostationary orbit on: Perigee / Apogee  35770 x 35803 km Inclination  0.1° Period  1436.1 min

Spacecraft data: Prime contractor  Mitsubishi Electric (prime), Boeing Operator  Japanese Ministry of Transport, Civil Aviation Bureau & Meteorological Agency Platform  DS-2000 Mass at launch  4650 kg Dry Mass  1700 kg Basic shape   Dimension (m)   Solar array   Stabilization   Propulsion  Aerojet/Redmond R-4D-11-164 apogee engine Design lifetime  10 years

Description:

The MTSAT-2 (Multifunctional Transport Satellite) is a multi-functional satellite with a dual purpose:

On the one hand, it's an integral part of a next-generation global-scale air traffic safety system comprised of communications, navigation, tracking and air traffic control. The purpose is to improve traffic congestion and safety in the Asia Pacific region.

On the other hand, the MTSAT-2 is designed to take on a meteorological mission to capture, collect and deliver meteorological images and/or data. In this capacity it inherits and expands the mission of a previous satellite.

The satellite carries an imaging telescope, backed by detectors for five wavelength channels:

1. Visible band at 0.55-0.80 microns, detected by silicon photovoltaic detectors at a spatial resolution of 1.25 km;
2. 10.3-11.3 micron infrared channel (IR1) with a HgCdTe photoconductive detector.
3. 11.5-12.5 micron channel (IR2) with a HgCdTe detector;
4. 6.5-7.0 micron water vapor channel (IR3) with a HgCdTe detector; and,
5. 3.5-4.0 micron near-infrared channel with an InSb photovoltaic detector.

All infrared channels provide a spatial resolution of 5.0 km.

For the meteorological mission, MTSAT-2 will play a role of a back-up satellite while MTSAT-1R is in operation until 2008. After the commencement of MTSAT-2 operations, MTSAT-1R will be used as a stand-by satellite for the meteorological mission. 

Mission details:

• Another H2A mission followed on Feb 18, with MTSAT-2 reaching geostationary transfer orbit. MTSAT-2, a Multifunctional Transport Satellite (Unyu tamokuteki eisei shin), is jointly owned by JCAB (the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, koukuu kyoku) and JMA (Kisho-chou, the Japanese Meteorological Agency), both under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Kokudo koutsuushou). Its aeronautical payload provides communications relay between aircraft and air traffic control, GPS augmentation navigation for aircraft, and transmits the location of aircraft to air traffic control. The JAMI (Japan Advanced Meteorological Imager) weather camera has one visible and four infrared channels. MTSAT-2 was built by Mitsubishi using the new DS2000 bus, and has the same general layout as the Loral 1300 satellites used for MTSAT-1: a box-shaped bus with a solar panel array on one side and a long boom with a small conical solar sail on the opposite side. MTSAT-2 has a Japanese (IHI) 500N apogee thruster, and its launch mass is 4650 kg. Span is 30m, and bus size is probably around 4 x 4 x 6m. It is likely that MTSAT-2 will be renamed Himawari-7.