# Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
*agency . companies*

Japan's central government ministry for industrial policy, trade, energy, and natural resources (founded 2001 from MITI). Programme authority and funder for HISUI hyperspectral ISS instrument, ASTER multispectral instrument (joint with NASA), and ASNARO small-satellite EO demonstration series, all executed through Japan Space Systems (JSS), a METI-supervised foundation. Also initiated the Tellus satellite data platform (operated by Sakura Internet).

## Specifications
- **country**: Japan
- **website**: https://www.meti.go.jp
- **operator domains**: ["meti.go.jp"]
- **founded year**: 2001
- **last verified date**: 2026-05-24
- **verified by**: sw
- **claim status**: unclaimed

## Editorial
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is Japan's central government ministry for industrial policy, trade, energy, and natural resources, established on 6 January 2001 from its predecessor Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) under the Central Government Reform [^wiki-meti]. METI's statutory mandate includes "stable and efficient development of mineral and energy resources," which is the explicit policy foundation for its portfolio of satellite Earth observation programmes [^wiki-meti].

METI is not a space agency. It does not build or operate spacecraft. Instead, METI functions as programme funder and policy authority, contracting execution to Japan Space Systems (JSS), a General Incorporated Foundation established under METI supervision through the 2012 merger of three predecessor METI-affiliated foundations [^wiki-jss]. JSS manages METI's EO programme portfolio including data distribution and project operations.

METI's longest-running EO instrument is ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), a joint programme with NASA launched aboard the Terra spacecraft in December 1999 [^wiki-aster]. ASTER comprises 14 spectral bands across VNIR, SWIR, and TIR, a multispectral instrument, not hyperspectral. METI funded the instrument through JAROS (Japan Resources Observation System Organization) and coordinated development across four Japanese industrial primes: NEC (VNIR), Mitsubishi Electric (SWIR), Fujitsu (TIR), and Hitachi (system integration). NASA operates the Terra spacecraft and distributes ASTER data freely through LP DAAC since April 2016. The SWIR channel has been non-operational since April 2008.

METI's hyperspectral instrument, HISUI (Hyperspectral Imager Suite), launched aboard SpaceX CRS-19 on 5 December 2019 and was installed on the Japan Experiment Module Exposed Facility (JEM EF) of the International Space Station [^jspacesystems-hisui]. HISUI delivers 185 contiguous spectral bands from 400 to 2500 nm, covering the full VNIR and SWIR range diagnostic for mineral and vegetation analysis. AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), a METI-affiliated national R&D agency, led instrument design and development; JSS manages project operations and data distribution; JAXA provides ISS accommodation under the JEM EF interface agreement [^jspacesystems-hisui]. METI's resource exploration mandate is the direct funding rationale: the SWIR channel covers diagnostic absorption features for alteration minerals (hydroxyl clays, carbonates, sulphates) relevant to mineral exploration and geological mapping.

HISUI data is distributed via Tellus (tellusxdp.com), a Japanese satellite data platform initiative launched by METI and operated by Sakura Internet. Access is oriented toward Japanese-affiliated organisations; international access through the public portal is limited. Radiometric calibration updates through at least February 2026 confirm active operations beyond the instrument's nominal 3-year mission.

METI also oversaw the ASNARO (Advanced Satellite with New system Architecture for Observation) programme, a series of small EO satellites demonstrating commercial viability, executed by JSS and NEC. ASNARO-1 (sub-metre optical) launched 2014 and ASNARO-2 (X-band SAR) launched 2018; both were subsequently transferred to Vietnamese operator VNSC as part of Japan's capacity-building cooperation.

From an EO-Atlas perspective, METI is a programme funder and policy authority whose EO instruments land in the catalogue as sensor products (HISUI) or instrument nodes (ASTER), with METI as the upstream company FK target. METI itself does not distribute data directly to end users; distribution runs through JSS, LP DAAC (ASTER), or Tellus (HISUI).

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/companies/meti
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)