JMA's Meteorological Satellite Center(MSC)

15 July 1950

• MSC′s predecessor, the Meteorological Communication Center was moved to Kiyose.

20 August 1968

• Reception of Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) data from the USA's ESSA-6 polar-orbiting satellite started.

1 March 1974

• Reception of VHRR data from the USA's ITOS-D (NOAA-2) polar-orbiting satellite started. Data from NOAA satellites have been continuously received since that time.

1 April 1977

• The Meteorological Satellite Center (MSC) was established as an auxiliary organ of JMA.

14 July 1977

• The first Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA at 19:39 (JST).

18 July 1977

• The GMS was nicknamed Himawari.

8 September 1977

• The first GMS Image of the earth was taken.

6 April 1978

• Full operation of the GMS started for three-hourly full-earth disk observation, facsimile picture dissemination and meteorological parameter extraction.

1 April 1981

• Operational retrieval of atmospheric vertical profile data from the USA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting meteorological satellite started.

11 August 1981

• The GMS-2 was launched from NASDA's Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan at 05:03 (JST).

21 December 1981

• Full operation of the GMS-2 started.

3 August 1984

• The GMS-3 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 05:30 (JST).

27 September 1984

• Full operation of the GMS-3 started.

1 March 1987

• Hourly half-disk observation started in addition to the three-hourly full-disk observation.

1 January 1988

• Provision of data for the Global Precipitation Climate Project (GPCP) started.

1 April 1988

• Stretched VISSR (S-VISSR) for real-time dissemination of raw digital image data started.

5 January 1989

• Operational hourly full-disk observation started.

6 September 1989

• The GMS-4 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 04:11 (JST).

14 December 1989

• Full operation of the GMS-4 started.

18 March 1995

• The GMS-5 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 17:01 (JST).

15 June 1995

• Reception and utilization of observation data from the USA's two NOAA polar-orbiting meteorological satellites started.

21 June 1995

• Full operation of the GMS-5 started.

1 April 1996

• Operation of the Seismic Intensity Data Conversion System started.

15 November 1999

• Launch of the first MTSAT was attempted from Tanegashima Space Center at 16:29 (JST) using the H-I launch vehicle. However, both the vehicle and the MTSAT were destroyed by commands from the ground station 7 minutes and 41 seconds after lift-off due to the vehicle's failure to follow the predetermined path.

22 May 2003

• Back-up operation of the GMS-5 with the GOES-9 started.

26 February 2005

• MTSAT-1R was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center of JAXA (the successor organization to NASDA) at 18:25 (JST).

28 June 2005

• Full operation of the MTSAT-1R started.

18 February 2006

• MTSAT-2 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 15:27 (JST).

4 September 2006

• Operation of MTSAT-2 as a backup for MTSAT-1R started.

1 July 2010

• Full operation of the MTSAT-2 started.

7 October 2014

• Himawari-8 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 14:16 (JST).

7 July 2015

• Full operation of the Himawari-8 started.

2 November 2016

• Himawari-9 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center at 15:20 (JST).

10 March 2017

• Operation of Himawari-9 as a backup for Himawari-8 started.

13 December 2022

• Full operation of the Himawari-9 started.
  Operation of Himawari-8 as a backup for Himawari-9 started.

Refernce

• JMA:History at a glance, JMA website.