HIMAWARI - 8 : A Geostationary Satellite Story
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| Source : https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/meteoworld/facilitating-use-of-new-himawari-8-satellite-data |
With a mission of weather satellite, Himawari 8 (ひまわり8号) was launched from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex Pad 1 at the Tanegashima Space Center at 05:16 UTC on 7 October 2014. It reached its operational geostationary orbit in October 2014, at 140.7 degrees East.
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| Source: http://www.spaceflight101.net/h-iia-f25-launch-updates---himawari-8.html |
Japan's H-IIA blasted off from Tanegashima Space Center and jumped off its lauching pad, following its 28 minute mission to reach a Geostationary Transfer Orbit. Racing across the Pacific Ocean, it separated the two solid-fueled boosters under two minutes after it launched and it resumes, as planned, firing its large Core Stage. It's second stage executed two burns which includes the first being successfully placing the stack in a low parking orbit and the second raising the apogee to reach the Geostationary Orbit.
Just before hitting the 24-minute mark in the flight, the second stage re-ignited to raise the apogee of the orbit to Geostationary Altitude and slightly decrease the orbital inclination. Himawari-8 targeted the insertion orbit of 250 by 35,976 Kilometers inclined 22.4 degrees.
Following the spacecraft separation, Himawari-8 began a series of operations to acquire a stable three-axis orientation and initiate communications with ground stations. Over a period of days, the satellite completed initial checkouts and finally reached its Geostationary Orbit at 140 degrees East, covering the Japanese Territory and the Asia-Pacific region.
Following the spacecraft separation, Himawari-8 began a series of operations to acquire a stable three-axis orientation and initiate communications with ground stations. Over a period of days, the satellite completed initial checkouts and finally reached its Geostationary Orbit at 140 degrees East, covering the Japanese Territory and the Asia-Pacific region.
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| Source : http://satelit.bmkg.go.id/BMKG/ |
Its mission, being a weather satellite, is to monitor atmospheric phenomena continuously and uniformly over areas which are difficult to observe using surface-based observation, which includes sea areas.
An example of its imagery data of the Indonesian territory can be seen above. Taken from Indonesia's Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), this image shows the chance of rain in Indonesian territory. Himawari-8's imagery data can also be accessed through HimawariCast, a communication satellite as well as the website https://himawari8.nict.go.jp/ for its live feed.
As all geostationary satellites, Himawari-8 has its own advantages and disadvantages in its usage. As mentioned before, geostationary satellites monitor phenomena continuously—resulting in the advantage of time resolution. This results to real time images directly from the satellite to forcasters to analyze and monitor the major weather systems such as fronts, hurricanes and storms. Furthermore, the direction and speed of wind could also be forecasted through monitoring wind movements.
However, the disadvantages of Himawari-8 is not to be neglected. The main disadvantage would be the space resolution of said satellite. This is due to the fact that the area covered by Himawari-8 is limited. Moreover, the territory resolution has rough results due to the high altitude of the Himawari-8 as well as other geostationary satellites. Thus, geostationary satellites would not be suitable for imageries in narrow spaces, but brilliant for monitoring large weather systems.
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| Source : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP4ZGHPVEvdqCMrxz5UFs04V76hsae1F8LefdUMF_CVrRlbl68VvfYdrWM9PryKWYVCtH3sWjDEJYII8w0J-4N4oem8IAHkT0v9MoEHej1BLOywH9YfFYt44Q3xhHrV037zP1kaKeIQmRI/s1600/satelitgeostasioner2.jpg |
As all geostationary satellites, Himawari-8 has its own advantages and disadvantages in its usage. As mentioned before, geostationary satellites monitor phenomena continuously—resulting in the advantage of time resolution. This results to real time images directly from the satellite to forcasters to analyze and monitor the major weather systems such as fronts, hurricanes and storms. Furthermore, the direction and speed of wind could also be forecasted through monitoring wind movements.
However, the disadvantages of Himawari-8 is not to be neglected. The main disadvantage would be the space resolution of said satellite. This is due to the fact that the area covered by Himawari-8 is limited. Moreover, the territory resolution has rough results due to the high altitude of the Himawari-8 as well as other geostationary satellites. Thus, geostationary satellites would not be suitable for imageries in narrow spaces, but brilliant for monitoring large weather systems.
Sources:
http://satelit.bmkg.go.id/BMKG/
https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/meteoworld/facilitating-use-of-new-himawari-8-satellite-data
https://himawari8.nict.go.jp/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himawari_8
http://kamusmeteorology.blogspot.com/2012/10/satelit-geostasioner.html
http://satelit.bmkg.go.id/BMKG/
https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/meteoworld/facilitating-use-of-new-himawari-8-satellite-data
https://himawari8.nict.go.jp/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himawari_8
http://kamusmeteorology.blogspot.com/2012/10/satelit-geostasioner.html
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