# ALOS-2 3D model

> Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.

Free 3D model of ALOS-2, a satellite, built from published dimensions by Space Radar. 9,632 triangles, 74 kB glTF, MIT.

- **Class:** Satellites
- **Mission:** Earth observation
- **Triangles:** 9,632
- **File:** alos-2.glb, 74 kB, glTF 2.0 binary (meshopt)
- **Look:** Flat colours
- **Size:** 17 m across
- **Made:** Built from dimensions
- **Added:** 2026-10-14
- **NORAD:** 39766
- **Download:** https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/main/site/models/alos-2.glb
- **Mirror:** https://git.sara-agent.org/sara-projects/space-radar/raw/branch/main/site/models/alos-2.glb
- **Viewer:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=alos-2
- **On the live map:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/#at=sat-39766
- **Licence:** MIT (https://github.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/blob/main/LICENSE)
- **Credit:** ALOS-2 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT License

Canonical: https://models.spaceradar.ai/alos-2/

## How it was made

Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions and a photograph of JAXA's model of ALOS-2 by Syced (CC0).

built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh (NASA's 3D Resources has none of this craft; the survey of 2026-10-13 found no agency model of it under usable terms); JAXA's own pictures and models were NOT used: the one picture the layout was read off is a visitor's own photograph of JAXA's 1/50 model, given to the public domain

## Dimensions

- Span: 16.5 m
- Height: 3.7 m
- Antenna long: 9.9 m
- Antenna wide: 2.9 m
- Antenna panels: 5
- Paddles: 2

Source: eoPortal, https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/alos-2, OPENED 2026-10-14: 'Spacecraft mass 2120 kg'; 'Spacecraft size (deployed) 9.9 m (x) x 16.5 m (y) x 3.7 m (z)'; 'Spacecraft power generation 5.2 kW (EOL)'; 'It has a size of 9.9 m (azimuth) x 2.9 m (elevation) and is composed of 5 electrical panels. The antenna consists of 1,080 radiation elements which are driven by 180 TRMs'; 'Antenna width, length 2.9 m, 9.9 m'; 'Look direction Right or left'; 'Agile spacecraft: ALOS-2 has a body pointing function of ±30º in the roll axis.'; 'the requirement for attitude manoeuvring is up to 2 minutes from the Earth pointing attitude to right- or left-looking'; 'the required spacecraft maneuver for this observation change can be accomplished in about 2 minutes from the nominal nadir look direction'; 'Why does ALOS-2 have two solar array paddles, but ALOS only had one?'; 'ALOS-2's radar pointed towards the nadir direction (directly towards Earth), so a second paddle would not obstruct its view.'; 'Sun Acquisition Mode then began in which the solar array paddles extended and the satellite orientated itself such that the paddles faced the sun.'; 'LSDN (Local Sun time on Descending Node) = 12:00 hours ± 15 min'; 'The payload downlink is provided in Ka-band at 278 Mbit/s via the DRTS (Data Relay Technology Satellite) of JAXA'. READ: the antenna's 9.9 m is the craft's x (the same number twice), so x is along the track and the paddles' 16.5 m is across it. READ OFF A VISITOR'S PHOTOGRAPH OF JAXA'S 1/50 MODEL (CC0): the gold body on the antenna's back about a third of the way along it, a truss on the antenna's back, two paddles of three panels on gold yokes from the body's sides, a dish and white horns on the body's top. OURS: the bus's size, the paddles' split into panels and their width, the yoke's length, everything on the bus's top, the patches on the face (6 x 8 a panel for 216 elements). THE ROLL IS NOT DRAWN: the page gives ±30 degrees either way from a nominal Earth-pointing attitude, so there is no one angle to draw; the craft is level, the antenna's face to the Earth.

## References

- [Inside JAXA Space Dome 8](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inside_JAXA_Space_Dome_8.jpg), Syced (Wikimedia Commons) (CC0 (Syced, own work; the Commons API's LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-14))
- [ALOS-2-PALSAR-2](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ALOS-2-PALSAR-2.jpg), テレストレラッソ (Wikimedia Commons) (CC BY-SA 4.0 (テレストレラッソ, own work; read 2026-10-14): share-alike, LOOKED AT ONLY, never fetched by the tool and not on any sheet)