Results of Hodoyoshi-3 and -4 Earth Observation Missions

Abstract

This work describes in-orbit results of the Earth-observation missions of the microsatellites Hodoyoshi-3 and Hodoyoshi-4. These satellites were successfully launched from Russia by the Dnepr launch vehicle on June 19, 2014. Hodoyoshi-3 has observation devices that consist of a medium-resolution camera and a low-resolution one. Hodoyoshi-4 is equipped with a high-resolution multispectral camera that has a push-broom imaging sensor with a ground sampling distance of 6.3 m. The initial observations by Hodoyoshi-3 and -4 were successfully achieved. All cameras are regularly providing Earth-observation images. Due to limitations with the satellite attitude-determination system, geometric correction of the acquired images is carried out by registration to other satellite images. Hodoyoshi-3 and -4 can provide various Earth-observation results that consist of low-, medium-, and high-resolution images. These images are useful for disaster monitoring, vegetation monitoring, agriculture, and forest management.