ADEOS III

ADEOS III is a follow on of ADEOS II and is under phase A study in NASDA (National Space Development Agency of Japan). Mission concept of ADEOS series satellites are to continuously monitor global change phenomena, especially phenomena related to climate change and ozone depletion. ADEOS III is now composed of 2 satellites, i.e. ADEOS IIIA and ADEOS IIIB. The target of ADEOS IIIA is to monitor greenhouse gases distribution and ozone as well as ozone related constituents from oblique orbit. It is now planned to carry two instruments, i.e. ILAS III and ODUS. The target of ADEOS IIIB is to measure geophysical parameters which are uncertain in the today´s climate models. Those parameters include, but are not limited to, optical thickness of aerosols and clouds, thermal fluxes, carbon fluxes, sink and source of greenhouse gases, etc. ADEOS IIIB will carry five instruments, i.e. SGLI (GLI follow on), AMSR2 (AMSR follow on), SeaWinds2 (SeaWinds follow on), ATRAS (IMG follow on) and APOLDER (POLDER follow on). The orbit of ADEOS IIIB will be a Sun synchronous orbit, which is almost the same as ADEOS II. ADEOS IIIA is planned to be launched in 2004, and ADEOS IIIB is planned to be launched in 2005