# Himawari-9
*missions*

Japanese geostationary meteorological satellite carrying AHI for continuous weather and environmental observation over East Asia and the western Pacific.

## Specifications
- **operator**: jma
- **actual launch**: 2016-11-02
- **current status**: operational
- **orbit type**: Geostationary orbit, 140.7 E, 35786 km
- **tasking supported**: false
- **launch vehicle**: jaxa-h-iia
- **entity type**: mission
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-14
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: jma
- **attributes**: {"operator":"jma","actual_launch":"2016-11-02","current_status":"operational","orbit_type":"Geostationary orbit, 140.7 E, 35786 km","tasking_supported":false,"description":"Japanese geostationary meteorological satellite carrying AHI for continuous weather and environmental observation over East Asia and the western Pacific.","launch_vehicle":"jaxa-h-iia"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
Himawari-9 is the current primary geostationary meteorological satellite operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), stationed at 140.7 degrees east at 35,786 km altitude over East Asia and the western Pacific. It was launched on 2016-11-02 and is a near-identical successor to Himawari-8.[^jma-himawari-overview]

The primary payload is the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), a 16-channel visible and infrared imaging radiometer producing full-disc imagery every 10 minutes and sector scans every 2.5 minutes. AHI data support atmospheric motion vector derivation, sea-surface temperature retrieval, thermal anomaly detection, and aerosol optical depth estimation.[^jma-ahi-spec][^wmo-ahi][^nasa-ahi-dark-target] A data-collection system (DCS) supports relay of in-situ environmental measurements.[^wmo-himawari-9]

Himawari-9 assumed primary observation duty from Himawari-8 on 2022-12-13. An imagery anomaly during October-November 2025 caused a temporary handover to Himawari-8; primary service was restored to Himawari-9 on 2025-11-26 per WMO OSCAR.[^wmo-himawari-9][^jma-himawari-overview]

## Compositional position
- Himawari-9 --[mission_payloads]--> ahi (products)
- Himawari-9 --[mission_payloads]--> dcs-himawari-9 (products)
- Himawari-9 --[related-topic]--> weather-nowcasting (topics)
- Himawari-9 --[related-topic]--> atmospheric-wind (topics)
- Himawari-9 --[related-topic]--> sea-surface-temperature (topics)
- Himawari-9 --[related-topic]--> air-quality (topics)
- Himawari-9 --[related-topic]--> wildfire (topics)

## Sources
- [wmo-himawari-9] | WMO OSCAR satellite record: Himawari-9 | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/himawari_9 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [jma-himawari-overview] | JMA outline of Himawari-8/9 geostationary meteorological satellites | https://www.jma.go.jp/jma/jma-eng/satellite/himawari89.html | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [jma-ahi-spec] | JMA Meteorological Satellite Center Himawari-8/9 AHI specifications | https://www.data.jma.go.jp/mscweb/en/himawari89/space_segment/spsg_ahi.html | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [wmo-ahi] | WMO OSCAR instrument record: Advanced Himawari Imager | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/ahi | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [nasa-ahi-dark-target] | NASA Dark Target: AHI on Himawari | https://darktarget.gsfc.nasa.gov/ahi-himawari | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/missions/himawari-9
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)