Satellite glitch briefly suspends Japan's weather observation

Thursday 12th November, 11:01 AM JST

TOKYO —

Japan’s weather observation went out of service for 3 1/2 hours from Wednesday night to early Thursday due to an unknown glitch in satellite Himawari No. 6, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Thursday. The service was restored at 1 a.m. Thursday by switching to the backup orbiter Himawari No. 7, after Himawari No. 6 became unable to control its position to keep its camera trained on earth and also to transmit signals around 9:25 p.m. Wednesday.

The trouble caused the agency to miss its half-hourly data observations on seven occasions, but posed no particular setback in disaster preparedness, the agency said. Himawari No. 6 is still orbiting, it said. As multifunctional transport satellites, Himawari No. 6 and No. 7 are also used for air traffic control, but Himawari No. 7 is already in use for this and the glitch had no impact on flights, the transport ministry said.

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8 Comments

some14some at 11:37 AM JST - 12th November

Should be a Top News Story as it is of some serious concern.
Yelnats at 12:30 PM JST - 12th November

What about all of the other Himawari?
Nessie at 12:59 PM JST - 12th November

Does this have anything to do with Yahoo Weather being down for Japan?
stirfry at 02:53 PM JST - 12th November

just look out the window...its about as accurate
Proffesor at 04:58 PM JST - 12th November

Why name them himawari when in actual fact they are just orbiting the earth? I would go for Chikyumawari.
ilcub76 at 09:04 PM JST - 12th November

Were they concerned about the weather forecast? Or was it what the nuclear neighbor North Korea was up to? Satellites can be used for many different purposes......
Weasel at 10:42 PM JST - 12th November

Does the weather change that rapidly within 3 1/5 hours? 50% chance of sunshine, while there may be a 50% chance it'll be cold and wet. Isn't that the typical forecast the weather girl provides this time of the year?
eigonosensei at 05:00 PM JST - 13th November

Sorry 'bout the glitch folks. I divided by zero. I was bored. Sorry.