MELBOURNE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) released the first images taken by Harris Corporation’s (NYSE:HRS) Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard Himawari-9, the country’s newest weather satellite. The imager captured detailed clouds over Japan and the Pacific Ocean.
The Harris-built AHI significantly improves the quality, speed and accuracy of information provided to meteorologists with its higher resolution, 11 additional spectral bands and more rapid scans than older imagers. The AHI captures images of Japan 12 times faster and the full Earth three times faster than older systems. These features generate many more weather products and much improved video capability compared with older imagers.
“The similar Himawari-8 already has been very helpful in providing greater detail and predicting the paths of several typhoons in the Pacific Ocean,” said Eric Webster, vice president and general manager, Harris Environmental Solutions. “These innovative Harris imagers also benefit airlines by distinguishing between smoke, sand/dust and volcanic ash, which can interfere with flight operations.”
Himawari-9 was built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and launched Nov. 2, 2016. The AHI leverages similar technology used for the Harris-built Advanced Baseline Imager onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (GOES-16) weather satellite, launched Nov. 19, 2016, by NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
About Harris Corporation
Harris Corporation is a leading technology innovator, solving customers’ toughest mission-critical challenges by providing solutions that connect, inform and protect. Harris supports government and commercial customers in more than 100 countries and has approximately $6 billion in annual revenue. The company is organized into three business segments: Communication Systems, Space and Intelligence Systems and Electronic Systems. Learn more at harris.com.
