The Advanced Land Observing Satellite “Daichi” returns to normal operation conditions and completes critical phase

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed that there was no problem in the data processing function of the Daichi, thus we carried out operations to have the Daichi return to normal operations until 11:54 a.m. on January 28, 2006 (Japan Standard Time, JST.) Subsequently, JAXA monitored the satellite conditions, and verified that all functions of the satellite, including the data processing system, are working normally and returned to regular operations. As we previously announced, the Daichi had put itself into safety mode automatically because the anomaly detection function had been activated at 10:51 p.m. on January 27 (JST).

JAXA then decided to complete the scheduled critical phase at 5:00 p.m. on January 28 (JST), and moved onto the initial functional verification phase.

We will now verify the functions of the satellite onboard equipment for about three months until April.

Finally, we would like to express our profound appreciation to all individuals and organizations that have supported our launch, tracking and control activities.

* The critical phase is the period until the satellite is ready for the initial functional verification. It includes launch operations, deployment of the solar array paddle, communication antenna, and radarantenna after the separation from the launch vehicle, and completion of shifting to the regular mode of the attitude control system.

* This information is also available on the following website: http://h2a.jaxa.jp/index_e.html