[M-SD35] Future Missions of Satellite Earth Observation

[MSD35-10] High-resolution optical, SAR, and LIDAR mission for Disaster Response, Base Map, and Environmental monitoring (Part 4)

*Tomohiro Watanabe¹, Naoki Ishitsuka², Atsushi Kimura³, Imai Yasuteru⁴, Makoto Ohashi⁵, Toshikazu Sakai⁶, Tetsushi Tachikawa⁷, Li Yunqing⁸, Ogawa Takashi⁹ (1.The Remote Sensing Society of Japan, 2.National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 3.PASCO CORPORATION, 4.Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd., 5.Asia Air Survey Co., Ltd., 6.Esri Japan Corporation, 7.Japan Space Systems, 8.JAPAN SPACE IMAGING CORPORATION, 9.Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan)

The purpose of this proposal is to monitor and elucidate the earth resources by continuous observation and base mapping of large-scale disasters and long-term quantitative monitoring using High-resolution Optical, SAR, and LIDAR sensors. The optical and SAR sensors of the ALOS series are capable of observing wide areas with high spatial resolution, which has made them useful in the fields of infrastructure information, disaster prevention/mitigation, agriculture, energy, climate change, environment, and so on. The Landsat series in the U.S. is highly evaluated, and Europe is planning and operating the Sentinel series in the long term. From the viewpoint of continuous monitoring, continuous observation and open and free provision of the high-resolution sensors of the ALOS series are expected to become the next-generation sensors in collaboration with small constellations. This will lead to the expansion of business use by the private sector, including applications, and the raising of Japan's presence in earth observation.
In addition, as the mitigation capacity of forests against climate change is attracting renewed attention, the laser sensor is the only sensor that can measure the ground height under the forest canopy, which is an important variable in estimating biomass, from DSM and DEM. By combining this Laser sensor with an imager that can measure the area and integrating it with the ALOS/SAR series, it is expected that Japan will be able to report forest biomass and other data with high accuracy, and increase its presence in terms of providing basic information for countermeasures and evaluating the effectiveness of measures.