Payloads for the N-launch vehicles

Satellites launched by the National Space Development Agency of Japan are discussed. The HIMAWARI-2 meteorological satellite can photograph the earth in the visible and the infrared, and accumulates and distributes meteorological data. The CS-2a and CS-2b satellites, which form the first domestic operational satellite communications system in Japan, are discussed, and plans for the next generation are summarized. The planned satellite broadcasting system is also described, including the orbit and design. Japan's first earth observation satellite MOS-1 will be launched in 1986, its principal missions being the establishment of fundamental technologies common to both land and marine observation satellites, as well as observation of the state of the sea surface and atmosphere by use of visible, infrared, and microwave radiometers. Existing and planned engineering test satellites are discussed, including the systems and objectives of the latter.