ADEOS MALFUNCTION

Haruhisa Shimoda
ADEOS Program Scientist
Earth Observation Research and application Center, Japan Space Exploration Agency

It is with deep regret that I must inform you of some very sad news concerning ADEOS. JAXA found an ADEOS malfunction on the morning of June 30, 1997. At 9:46 (JST), EOC did not receive the observation data scheduled to be transmitted from ADEOS. The telemetry data received at Okinawa Tracking Station at 11:30 (JST) and 13:15 (JST) indicated that ADEOS was malfunctioning. No telemetry data has been received from the satellite since 13:15 (JST). At 19:00 (JST) on June 30, 1997, JAXA concluded that there was little possibility of the satellite's recovery and that it would be necessary to abandon the satellite. JAXA is currently trying to examine the accident details and determine its cause. At present, we do not know what happened to ADEOS.

There will be no additional ADEOS data. However, ADEOS has observed the Earth for eight months since last November, and approximately 20% of the scheduled data has been collected. Though the archived data may not be enough, I believe that all data observed by sensors on board ADEOS will be of great use for Earth science. JAXA will continue to process previously acquired data and provide processed data for users in compliance with his/her request. JAXA will also reprocess data observed by OCTS and AVNIR using updated processing algorithms. I sincerely ask you to continue your research using these archived ADEOS data. If you are a PI engaged in ADEOS JRA activities and unable to continue your research, please let me know.

As a result of this accident, we have to reconstruct the ADEOS science program as soon as possible. Of course, we will continue the ADEOS science program. However, some program implementation plans must be changed or cancelled. For instance, calibration/validation experiments should be cancelled and research plans using long-term ADEOS data should be rewritten. We have to abandon the plan to issue a Research Announcement (RA) for ADEOS and ADEOS-II, provisionally titled "ADEOS Series Research Announcement 1997 (ADEOS Series RA 97)." Instead, JAXA intends to issue an RA for only ADEOS-II. The ADEOS-II project team at EORC will start preparations to issue an RA soon. I will inform you of the details of the revised ADEOS science programs as soon as they are fixed.

When we heard the news about the malfunction of ADEOS on the morning of June 30, we were in the final stage of preparation for issuing this ADEOS Newsletter No. 7. Since most of the manuscripts were completed, we decided to issue the newsletter as planned. Please forgive us if you find this inappropriate.

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