ALOS

ISSA-J1 will use a 650-kilogram servicer to approach and inspect the retired Japanese spacecraft ALOS and ADEOS-II in distinct orbits using a single flight profile.

ISSA-J1 will target the retired Japanese spacecraft ALOS and ADEOS-II.

ALOS has been retired since 2011.

After inspecting ALOS, ISSA-J1 will transition to a different orbit to reach ADEOS-II.

The ISSA-J1 spacecraft will first approach the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS).

ISSA-J1 will capture high-resolution imagery and sensor data to assess the structural integrity and rotational motion of ALOS and ADEOS-II.

The study integrated radar data from ESA's ERS missions, the Canadian RADARSAT satellite, Japan's ALOS PALSAR, Italy's Cosmo-SkyMed, Germany's TerraSAR-X, Argentina's SAOCOM, the ICEYE constellation, and Sentinel-1.

PASCO, RESTEC, and Tellus began providing data from JAXA's advanced radar satellite ALOS-4 from November 10, 2025.

Synspective also started data provision from ALOS-4 on November 4, 2025.

Data from ALOS-4 will be provided by companies selected through a JAXA public call, with PASCO, Synspective, and Tenchi in the selection as data service providers.

The satellites utilized in the agreement are ALOS-2 and ALOS-4, which can observe regardless of time and weather conditions.

The satellite images utilized in the agreement include the operational Daichi-2 (ALOS-2) and the Daichi-4 (ALOS-4) scheduled for launch in 2024.

The H3’s inaugural launch in March 2023 suffered a second-stage engine failure that led controllers to issue a destruct command for the stage and its ALOS-3 payload.

The first H3 launch carried the ALOS-3 Earth observation satellite, a spacecraft that cost about $200,000,000.

Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3) is a 3-ton optical imaging satellite built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.

The H3 rocket lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center at 10:37 a.m. Japan Standard Time on 2023-03-07 carrying Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3).

Asterra sources synthetic aperture radar data from Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) and the Saocom 1A and 1B radar spacecraft that Argentina operates jointly with Italy.

ALOS-3 is intended to follow the original Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS) that was launched in 2006 onboard an H-2A and declared dead in orbit in April 2011.

ALOS-2 was launched in May 2014 and remains operating.

Aboard the H3 rocket on the 2023-02-16 attempt was Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3), a 3-ton optical imaging satellite built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.