Photo: New satellite ASNARO-2 is unveiled to the media at an NEC Corp. facility in Tokyo’s Fuchu city Aug. 9. After launch an antenna on the satellite opens up. (Takahiro Takenouchi)
The new ASNARO-2 Being Branded as “Small & Cheap” at $144 million dollars and 500 kgs a great improvement previous traditional spacecraft but calling the ASNARO satellite small and cheap seems like a bit of a stretch with two companies in California and one in Finland building micosatellites with the same (or better) capabilities, old space needs to start taking tips from news space!
“The SAR enables ASNARO-2 to take images of surface conditions such as volcanic activity and landslides at night or in areas with low visibility due to cloud cover.The satellite is also expected to be used for resource exploration as well as the safe navigation of ships. The ministry provided 16 billion yen ($144 million) as a subsidy to create ASNARO-2, viewing its development as a “candidate” industry to export to emerging economies. ASNARO-2 is expected to be launched by the end of this year.”
More: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201708100024.html