Earth Observation Center

The Earth Observation Center is a facility of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Hatoyama, Saitama Prefecture. It was set up in October 1978 to establish and develop remote sensing, the technology of observing the state of the Earth from satellites.

The station

Large parabolic antennas on the grounds receive data from Earth observation satellites every day and send it on to the Tsukuba Space Center. There it is processed and supplied to research institutes, universities and other users in Japan and abroad, for work on environmental problems, disaster monitoring and resource surveys. The 13 m antenna receives the observations of the satellite Daichi 4 (だいち4号) by way of a data relay satellite. The receiving and processing equipment is housed in the No. 1 Operations Building.

The exhibition room

The Earth Observation Exhibition Room, in the No. 2 Operations Building, shows models of Earth observation satellites and images of the Earth taken from space, with quizzes alongside. Its theme is global environmental problems and the purpose of Earth observation: how the observations are made, how the images are analysed and used, and what future missions will do. Once a year the center opens its inner facilities to the public, with explanations of the equipment that receives satellite data.