Various type of the Earth observation satellites (Japan and overseas)

• There are many kinds of Earth observation satellites. They are distinguished by their equipped sensors. For example, sensors with specifications of a swath width of 185km and a spatial resolution of 30m recognize objects more than 30mx30m in size in an 185km-wide area.
  Some Earth observation satellites are listed below.

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1. Japan’s Earth observation satellites

• Momo-1 (Marine observing satellite, MOS-1/1b) : Optical sensor, passive microwave sensor
• Fuyo-1 (Japanese earth resources satellite, JERS-1) : Optical sensor, active microwave sensor
• Midori-1 (Advanced earth observing satellite, ADEOS) : Optical sensor, Passive microwave sensor
• Midori-2 (Advanced earth observing satellite, ADEOSII) : Optical sensor, passive microwave sensor
• Daichi (Advanced land observing satellite, ALOS) : Optical sensor, active microwave sensor

2. International satellites equipped with Japanese sensors

• Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission, TRMM) : Active microwave sensor
• Aqua : Passive microwave sensor

3. International satellites

• Landsat (USA) : Optical sensor
• SPOT (France) : Optical sensor
• IRS (India) : Optical sensor, etc
• Envisat (ESA) : Active microwave sensor
• RADARSAT (Canada) : Active microwave sensor, etc
• IKONOS : Optical sensor
• Quickbird : Optical sensor
• OrbView 3 : Optical sensor