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History
Outlines and Activities.
JMA's Meteorological Satellite Center (MSC)
The Meteorological Satellite Center (MSC) was established in April 1977 as an auxiliary organ of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
| Date | General outline |
|---|---|
| 15 July 1950 | The Meteorological Communication Center was moved to Kiyose. |
| 20 August 1968 | Reception of Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) data from the USA's ESSA-6 polar-orbiting satellite started. |
| 16 April 1973 | The Meteorological Satellite Planning Division was established at the Headquarters of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). |
| 1 March 1974 | Reception of VHRR data from the USA's ITOS-D (NOAA-2) polar-orbiting satellite started. Data from NOAA satellites have been continuously received since that time. |
| 22 March 1976 | A computer system based on FACOM 230-75 for both satellite control and data processing was put into operation. |
| 10 May 1976 | The Preparatory Office for the Meteorological Satellite Center was established. |
| 1 April 1977 | The Meteorological Satellite Center (MSC) was established as an auxiliary organ of JMA. |
| 14 July 1977 | The first Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA at 19:39 (JST). |
| 18 July 1977 | The GMS was nicknamed Himawari. |
| 8 September 1977 | The first GMS Image of the earth was taken . |
| 4 November 1977 | The GMS satellite was transferred from the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) to JMA. |
| 6 April 1978 | Full operation of the GMS started for three-hourly full-earth disk observation, facsimile picture dissemination and meteorological parameter extraction. |
| 1 April 1981 | Operational retrieval of atmospheric vertical profile data from the USA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting meteorological satellite started. |
| 11 August 1981 | The GMS-2 was launched from NASDA's Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan at 05:03 (JST). |
| 21 December 1981 | Full operation of the GMS-2 started. |
| 1 July 1983 | Provision of data for the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) started. |
| 1 July 1984 | The service of providing of typhoon analysis (SAREP) started. |
| 3 August 1984 | The GMS-3 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 05:30 (JST). |
| 27 September 1984 | Full operation of the GMS-3 started. |
| 1 March 1987 | Operation of the new computer system (composed of FACOM M-360R for satellite control and FACOM M-380S for data processing) started, replacing the previous version. |
| Operational hourly half-disk observation started in addition to three-hourly full-disk observation, and new products such as the Satellite Cloud Information Chart (SCIC) were introduced. | |
| Hourly half-disk observation started in addition to the three-hourly full-disk observation. | |
| 1 January 1988 | Provision of data for the Global Precipitation Climate Project (GPCP) started. |
| 1 April 1988 | Stretched VISSR (S-VISSR) for real-time dissemination of raw digital image data started. |
| 5 January 1989 | Operational hourly full-disk observation started. |
| 6 September 1989 | The GMS-4 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 04:11 (JST). |
| 14 December 1989 | Full operation of the GMS-4 started. |
| 1 March 1994 | SCIC provision service was augmented from three-hourly dissemination to hourly dissemination. |
| 1 April 1994 | Operation of the Simultaneous Satellite Communication System for Emergency Information started. |
| 18 March 1995 | The GMS-5 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 17:01 (JST). |
| 14 June1995 | Operation of the new computer system (composed of FACTOR M-1600/2 for satellite control and FACTOR M-1600/10R for data processing) started, replacing the previous version. The SCIC was renamed the Satellite Cloud Analysis Chart (SCAC). |
| 15 June 1995 | Reception and utilization of observation data from the USA's two NOAA polar-orbiting meteorological satellites started. |
| 21 June 1995 | Full operation of the GMS-5 started. |
| 1 April 1996 | Operation of the Seismic Intensity Data Conversion System started. |
| 11 May 1996 | The Office of Preparation for Meteorological Satellite Operations in charge of preparatory works for the operation of the MESA Multi-functional Transport Satellites was established. |
| 26 November 1996 | Operational reception of data from NASDA's earth exploration satellites started. |
| 15 November 1999 | Launch of the first MTSAT was attempted from Tanegashima Space Center at 16:29 (JST) using the H-I launch vehicle. However, both the vehicle and the MTSAT were destroyed by commands from the ground station 7 minutes and 41 seconds after lift-off due to the vehicle's failure to follow the predetermined path. |
| 22 May 2003 | Back-up operation of the GMS-5 with the GOES-9 started. |
| 26 February 2005 | MTSAT-1R was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center of JAXA (the successor organization to NASDA) at 18:25 (JST). |
| 1 March 2005 | Operation of the new computer system (including the HITACHI EP8000 for data processing) started. Satellite control operation has been performed using ground equipment installed at the CDAS since that time. |
| 28 June 2005 | Full operation of the MTSAT-1R started. |
| 18 February 2006 | MTSAT-2 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 15:27 (JST). |
| 4 September 2006 | Operation of MTSAT-2 as a backup for MTSAT-1R started. |