| Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 | |
| Names List: | Daichi-2 |
| Mission Type: | Remote sensing |
| Operator: | JAXA |
| Cospar Id: | 2014-029A |
| Satcat: | 39766 |
| Mission Duration: | (elapsed) |
| Spacecraft Type: | Advanced Land Observing Satellite |
| Spacecraft Bus: | ALOS |
| Launch Date: | 24 May 2014, 03:05:14 UTC[1] |
| Launch Rocket: | H-IIA 202 |
| Launch Site: | Tanegashima, Yoshinobu 1 |
| Launch Contractor: | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Orbit Reference: | Geocentric orbit[2] |
| Orbit Regime: | Sun-synchronous orbit |
| Orbit Inclination: | 97.92° |
| Orbit Period: | 97.33 minutes |
| Apsis: | gee |
| Programme: | Advanced Land Observation Satellite |
| Previous Mission: | ALOS |
| Next Mission: | ALOS-3 |
Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2), also called Daichi-2, is a 2120kg (4,670lb) Japanese satellite launched in 2014. Although the predecessor ALOS satellite had featured 2 optical cameras in addition to L-band (1.2 GHz/25 cm) radar, ALOS-2 had optical cameras removed to simplify construction and reduce costs. The PALSAR-2 radar is a significant upgrade of the PALSAR radar, allowing higher-resolution (1 x 3 m per pixel) spotlight modes in addition to the 10 m resolution survey mode inherited from the ALOS spacecraft. Also, the SPAISE2 automatic ship identification system and the Compact Infra Red Camera (CIRC) will provide supplementary data about sea-going ships and provide early warnings of missile launches.[3]
ALOS-2 was launched from Tanegashima, Japan, on 24 May 2014 by a H-IIA rocket.[4]
The satellite contains a 1.2 GHz synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) sensor that is intended to be used for cartography, monitoring of naval traffic and disaster monitoring of Asia and the Pacific.[3] JAXA initially hoped to be able to launch the successor to ALOS during 2011, but these plans were delayed until 2014 because of budget restrictions.