Satellite data from JAXA’s Super Low Altitude Test Satellite “TSUBAME”(SLATS) is now released in Tellus.

“TSUBAME” can observe with high resolution below 1m.

Satellites such as ASNARO-1 is also able to observe with high resolution. Nevertheless, this time, we will explain how is “TSUBAME” different from other satellites, and how does the observation images look like.

(1) ”TSUBAME” had been taking pictures whole April

“TSUBAME” had been taking pictures of a certain area in Tokyo once a day from April 2nd to May 10th. During this project, collaboration with JAXA and Tokyo Yakult Swallows(baseball team) was realized because there was Jingu Stadium in its shooting range.

Frequency of observation by satellite depends on its repeat cycle. For example, it takes a few days for ASNARO-1 to observe the same area in same condition.

“TSUBAME”, as a test satellite, observes in orbit of altitude 200 to 300 km. This is quite low, compared to normal satellites which uses orbit of altitude 500 to 1000 km. It goes without saying that it is a challenging mission, for it must adjust the orbit to keep observing the same area everyday, using the super low orbit which is difficult to maintain.

Data observed during this period (April 2, 2019 – May 10, 2019) is now available on Tellus.

(2) What can we find if daily observation is possible

“TSUBAME” had been observing at approximately the same time, around 16-17 o’clock, everyday for a month.

Although it is within a short period of “one month”, there are things which can be found by observing the same area around the same time everyday.

For it has high resolution below 1m, cars and buildings are able to recognize. Since it can observe changes in daily bases, it may be useful in checking the progress of construction or status of daily traffic congestions.

If satellite like “TSUBAME” gets common and daily observation of a certain place is made possible, it will be a great help in grasping the changes of an area in smaller bases than cities, or predicting sales forecast by the degree of congestion in traffic and commercial building. Moreover, it can be helpful in checking the situation of accidents or incidents.

(3) Let’s check on Tellus!

Now, let’s check the data of “TSUBAME” installed in Tellus!

In order to check the satellite image using Tellus, it needs user registration. If you do not have it, please register from the link below.

https://www.tellusxdp.com/

After logging in, click [Tellus OS].

Then, a blank map will show up.

Select “TSUBAME(SLATS) Around Koishikawa” or “TSUBAME(SLATS) Centering State Guest House Akasaka Palace” from [Satellite Data Selection] located at the right side of the screen.

Image from “TSUBAME” can be selected from the pulldown list.

After selecting a file, image will show up on the blank map. Areas around Koishikawa and State Guest House Akasaka Palace are located as shown below.

From now on, we will introduce SORABATAKE style of enjoying “TSUBAME”.

• Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.1: Read the message from Jingu Stadium!
• Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.2: Observe the state of cars in parking lot
• Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.3: Observe the situation of traffic congestion
• Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.4: Check on the progress of construction
• Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.5: Take a selfie photo!!!

●Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.1: Read the message from Jingu Stadium!

In the collaboration with JAXA and Tokyo Yakult Swallows previously mentioned, there is a message displayed in the Jingu Stadium.

For example, let’s check the image below;
・date: April 25th
・image: around State Guest House Akasaka Palace
・place: Jingu Stadium

This is an image of Jingu Stadium that shows up when searching with conditions “April 25th”, “around State Guest House Akasaka Palace”. Hiragana characters of “Tsu” and “Ba” are displayed on the outfield seats.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows posted some letters for 6 days during this test. By connecting all of them, a message shows up.

Please check on the image from other dates, and find out what the message was!

●Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.2: Observe the state of cars in parking lot

“TSUBAME” has resolution below 1m. This means that it can catch the figure of cars.

For example, when taking a look at ”Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery parking area” located near the Jingu Stadium,

It can be understood that change in numbers of cars parked occurs daily.
When looking more carefully, it can be found that
・parking lot is mostly full on weekdays, but open on weekends
・Bus stops on Tuesday (near the building located around the center)

It may be interesting to search for a good unknown parking area by checking the parking lot which you use most frequently and the areas around it.
Moreover, informations about existing parking areas may be useful for those who are planning to make a new parking areas.

● Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.3: Observe the situation of traffic congestion

Since it can catch the figure of cars, what is also interesting to see is the “situation of traffic congestion”.
Let’s take a look at the Shinjuku-dori Ave which has impression of crowded street.

By comparing the daily images, it can be said that traffic is heavy on weekdays and light on weekends.
If you are working with a car, please make use of this information!

● Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.4: Check on the progress of construction

To give another example, “daily changes” occurs in construction sites.

This time, let’s focus on the progression status of the Toranomon Hills which is under construction from 2019 to 2020.

When looking at the areas around the already built Toranomon Hills Mori Tower from “TSUBAME”,

State of crane working busily can be seen. Also, there seems to be some cranes which rarely moved.

The detail of the construction cannot be understood, but it seems like in the building located in the lower left of the image, cranes are putting something white on various place of the building in some kind of order.

Usually, we look up the construction site of skyscraper from the ground, so there are less chance in knowing how the construction is proceeded at the upper floors.

If there is construction site around your office, it may be interesting to take a look at it from the space.

● Enjoying “TSUBAME” No.5: Take a selfie photo!!

If we know the time and place of the picture taken beforehand, it is possible to take a selfie photo!

So, we decided to get in the picture with blue picnic blanket spread open.

However, we found out that we had been waiting at a place slightly out of the angle of view of “TSUBAME”. Unfortunately, we failed in taking our selfie using “TSUBAME”.

“TSUBAME” is going to reduce its attitude to below 250 km, and continue to observe until October, keeping its orbit.

If there is another chance, we look forward for our second try in getting in the picture.

We suggest you try Tokyo observation too, by looking at images taken by “TSUBAME” in Tellus website!

▼Join Tellus from here!
https://www.tellusxdp.com