Himawari
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Himawari is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a satellite, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 5,016 triangles in a 33 kB glTF file, and is 8.0 m across at full scale.
On Space Radar’s live map it is drawn for 2 catalogued objects, each where its published orbit puts it now. Open it on the map.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| X | 5.2 m |
| Y | 8 m |
| Z | 5.3 m |
| Power | 2.6 kW |
eoPortal, eoportal.org/satellite-missions/himawari-8-9, OPENED 2026-10-14: 'The Himawari-8 and 9 buses were manufactured by MELCO (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation), according to identical specifications. The spacecraft has dimensions 5.2 x 8.0 x 5.3 m, and a launch mass of approximately 3500 kg.'; 'The Himawari spacecraft is 3-axis stabilized with momentum bias. It features a MELCO DS-2000 bus. The overall size of the deployed spacecraft is 5.2 m (X-axis), 8.0 m (Y-axis), and 5.3 m (Z-axis).'; 'The launch mass is ~3500 kg, and the dry mass is 1300 kg.'; 'EPS (Electrical Power Subsystem): The power generated is 2.6 kW, the bus voltage is 100 V, use of a Li-ion battery.'; 'Ka-band for payload data transmission.'; 'Ku-band for TT&C services.'; 'Attitude sensors: Coarse Sun Sensor, Star Tracker, IRU (Inertial Reference Unit), Gyroscope'. JMA Meteorological Satellite Center, 'Himawari-8/9 Spacecraft Overview', data.jma.go.jp/mscweb/en/general/himawari.html, OPENED 2026-10-14: 'Each of Himawari-8/9 carries a new unit called the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI).'; 'The Ka-band is used for downlinking meteorological data, and the Ku-band is used for telemetry and command operations.'; 'Attitude control 3-axis attitude-controlled geostationary satellite'; 'Prime Contractor Mitsubishi Electric Corporation'. LOOKED AT ONLY (JMA's sketch on that page): the labels 'AHI (Advanced Himawari Imager)', 'UHF-band Antenna', 'Ku-band Antenna', 'Star Tracker', 'Imager Bench', 'Ka-band Antenna', 'Solar Array Panel', 'Space Environment Data Acquisition Monitor (SEDA)', the axes Xs, Ys, Zs, one array of two panels on a yoke. OURS: EVERY SIZE INSIDE THE CITED ENVELOPE (the body 2.4 x 2.4 x 3.15 m, AHI's housing, the array's panels of 2.2 x 2.4 m, the yoke, the Ka-band dish of 2.4 m), the colours (the blankets dark, the radiators white, read off JMA's artist's view, looked at only). (read 2026-10-14)
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 (no free picture of the craft).
The full record
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); no JMA, JAXA or Mitsubishi Electric picture or model is in the file: JMA's sketch of the craft was looked at only, for the layout
Where the map uses it. HIMAWARI-8 (40267) and HIMAWARI-9 (41836), the two records in the live saved data of 2026-10-12: Japan's geostationary weather satellites, 'identical specifications' (eoPortal). They wore the geostationary bus every craft in that ring gets (two long wings and dishes); public #995
Licence note. This project's own shape, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). NO FREE PICTURE OF THE CRAFT WAS FOUND: JMA's sketch was looked at only (named under references; JMA's site terms are said by JMA to be compatible with CC BY 4.0, but a third party may hold rights in it, and this batch treats agency pictures as looked at only) and nothing of it is in the file. NO JAXA OR MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC PICTURE WAS USED. NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh.
References 1
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- himawari89_outwardJapan Meteorological AgencyJMA's site terms (Government of Japan Standard Terms of Use, said by JMA to be compatible with CC BY 4.0; a third party may hold rights): LOOKED AT ONLY, never fetched by the tool and not on any sheet
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Himawari 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=himawari" title="Himawari, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
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Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.