First year on-orbit calibration activities of SGLI on GCOM-C satellite

Abstract

JAXA's Global Change Observation Mission for Climate (GCOM-C) spacecraft called "SHIKISAI", which means colorfulness in Japanese, was successfully launched on December 23, 2017 by H-IIA launch vehicle, Flight 37 (F37). GCOM-C is sun-synchronous polar orbit satellite with wide field of view (FOV) and 19 channels optical imager, Second Generation Global Imager (SGLI). The essential satellite operation to establish the satellite basic function to be used for the house keeping was successfully completed after the one day critical phase operation. The three months initial commissioning activities for the both satellite bus and sensor has been conducted before the calibration and verification phase to ensure the sensor observation product accuracy. This paper describes the commissioning of SGLI that we have performed during the first several months of in-orbit operation to confirm the system integrity. The technical aspects to the lunar calibration and the thermal infrared performance are specially described.