OREANDA-NEWS. August 22, 2012. NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) is supporting the orbital operation and initial functional verification of "SHIZUKU" (GCOM-W1), the water cycle observation satellite under the direction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that launched on May 18. The results of the latest verification, carried out over a period of approximately three months, show that SHIZUKU has been placed into its planned observation orbit and is fulfilling its required satellite functions. Initial calibration and validation is carried out in order to provide more accurate observation data to end users, reported the press-centre of NEC.

Under the direction of JAXA, NEC designed, manufactured and tested the SHIZUKU satellite system as well as major components. Additionally, NEC confirmed post-launch satellite conditions and developed systems to support the satellite's operations from the ground (including satellite control systems and mission operating systems for data processing) as part of the company's all-round support for SHIZUKU.

NEC will continue to offer support, including initial calibration, validation and data processing, in order for SHIZUKU observation data to be more widely available to users.

SHIZUKU is the first satellite to begin operating under the Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM, *1), which is carrying out long term global observations of environmental changes from space. SHIZUKU is equipped with a microwave scanning radiometer (AMSR2, *2) that makes global observations on precipitation, water vapour, wind speeds over the ocean and sea surface temperatures, all of which is expected to advance the understanding of climate change and weather prediction, contributing to the preservation of the global environment.

GCOM's primary goal is to better understand the state of the Earth's water cycle and climate change by using the GCOM-W series, which observes water cycles and GCOM-C, observes climate change.

NEC is also responsible for the design, manufacture and testing of systems for the Climate Change Observation Satellite (GCOM-C1) and the observation sensor SGLI (*3).

Going forward, NEC aims to capitalize on its state-of-the-art space technologies in order to drive the advancement of an information society that is friendly to people and the earth.