Article Posted on : - Oct 06, 2011

Aqua/AMSR-E. Photo: JAXA

TOKYO (BNS): The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E) has halted operations after reaching its speed limit, JAXA said.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been operating the AMSR-E for over nine years despite a design life of three years, as an onboard device installed in the American earth observation satellite Aqua, after its launch in 2002.

Friction was detected twice earlier due to the continuous increase of relatively large antenna rotation and on Tuesday the radiometer reached its limit and automatically halted its observations and rotation, the agency said.

JAXA said it is taking measures to correct the situation. It also plans to launch the successor to the AMSR-E, the Global Change Observation Mission 1st- Water "SHIZUKU" (GCOM-W1.)