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Issue of the 3rd Research Announcement on the Earth Observations

Issue of the 3rd Research Announcement on the Earth Observations

Last Update: 2024.3.18

About the third Research Announcement
(Late Proposals) on the Earth Observations

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) / Earth Observation Research Center (EORC) now conducts the third Research Announcement on the Earth Observations (EO-RA3) for its Earth observation satellite projects to enhance the research, utilization, and social implementation of the data from JAXA Earth observation satellites. In this EO-RA3, we are soliciting research with combined utilization of data from multiple satellites for solving global issues and social issues, in addition to the project research for each satellite as shown below.

· For the individual JAXA Satellite Project Research, EORC calls for the research for algorithm development, Calibration/Validation, and application to enhance the mission objectives of the JAXA satellite missions.

· For the multidisciplinary application research, EORC calls for various research using data from multiple satellites, one combining satellite date with numerical model, artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Big-Data, Geospatial Information, and so on, for industrial promotion and expansion of satellite utilization fields and other social utilization fields such as education.

By announcing widely to researchers/engineers of various research areas from domestic and foreign organizations, EORC will effectively conduct research and product development on technologies and new insights required to achieve mission success criteria for JAXA satellite projects and maximize the outcome for the benefits of the human society.

The target JAXA satellite missions and data of the EO-RA3 are AMSR3/GOSAT-GW & GCOM-W, GCOM-C, GPM & Precipitation Radar Follow-on mission (PR-FO), ALOS-2, ALOS-4, MOLI and EarthCARE.

Regarding the JAXA satellite missions that are planned to launch in the future, the launch dates and the planned dates for the data release are based on the current plans and may be changed in the future. And the rules of data provision in this EO-RA3 will be set aligned with the data policy of each satellite mission.

Note）
Since the research proposals, submitted to the Multidisciplinary Application Research category, with using any of ALOS-2/-4 data and not including topics categorized in other JAXA Satellite Project Research were evaluated as appropriate to be re-categorized to the ALOS project research in the review/selection process of the EO-RA3, it is highly recommended for such research proposals to be submitted to the ALOS project research. Please be informed that no proposal with mainly using any of ALOS-2/-4 data was selected as a funded research in the EO-RA3.

The research proposals for the TANSO series on the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) and its successors GOSAT-2 and GOSAT-GW will be excluded from the scope of this EO-RA3, since the dedicated RAs for these satellites has been conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and the National Institute for Environmental Studies.

The research proposals targeted only for the “Himawari”, the Geostationary Meteorological Satellites of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), will be also excluded from the scope of this EO-RA3, even though “Himawari” data can be used together with the JAXA satellites data above.

The research categories for this EO-RA3 applied to each satellite mission are shown below.

Satellite Mission	Algorithm Development	Standard Algorithm Calibration/validation	Application Research
AMSR3 & GCOM-W	✔	✔	✔
GCOM-C	✔	✔	✔
GPM & PR-FO	✔	✔	✔
ALOS-2/4	–	✔	✔
MOLI	✔	✔	–
EarthCARE	–	✔	✔

✔:Applicable
-：Not Applicable

The research categories applied to Multidisciplinary Application Research are shown below.

Research themes	Application Research
Application research for comprehensive understanding of the Earth system	✔
Application research to contribute to the solution of social issues	✔

✔:Applicable

Research Proposals

Please download the following documents for the details on this EO-RA3, and those who consider applying for any research category should access to the following web site for the ID registration, prior to the submission of a research proposal, and register your e-mail address for this RA Office to send farther information on the Proposal Submission Web Site. Please do NOT use any free-mail address such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and etc. to avoid any problems in the mutual communication.
In case of any problems on this site or downloading of the documents, please ask the Earth Observation RA Office for assistance via E-mail.

EO-RA3 details and forms for proposals can be downloaded from the following link:

RA details
3rd_EO-RA_guide_J_revC.pdf
3rd_EO-RA_guide_E_revB.pdf
*English & Japanese guides were updated on July 25, 2023
*The application guidelines for “EO-RA3” and “EO-RA3 Late Proposals (Part 1)” conducted
in 2021 and 2022 are included in the “Important dates for selection of proposals” below.
Appendix A,B,C (Instructions of the document Form C and the details of the Research Agreements)
EORA3_Appendix_A_Inst. of Form C-1_EJ.pdf
EORA3_Appendix_B_Inst. of Form C-2_EJ.pdf
EORA3_Appendix_C_Research_Agreements_J_rev_C.pdf
EORA3_Appendix_C_Research_Agreements_E_rev_D.pdf
*A few minor revisions were made in the terms and conditions of the above Research Agreements (English & Japanese). (November 1, 2022)
Appendix 1 – 8 (Overview of the JAXA satellite missions)
EORA3_APPENDIX1_GCOM.pdf
EORA3_APPENDIX2_GPM.pdf
EORA3_APPENDIX3_EarthCARE.pdf
EORA3_APPENDIX4-7_ALOS-2/-4 & MOLI.pdf
EORA3_APPENDIX8_AMSR3.pdf
Proposal submission Forms (FormA is revised. (rev.A))
EORA3_FormA_EJ.docx
EORA3_FormB_EJ.docx
EORA3_FormC-1_Funded_EJ.docx
EORA3_FormC-2_NoFund_EJ.docx

Proposal submission Forms are renewed in this EO-RA3, and please be sure to use the Forms above on submission. In the FormA, please be sure to identify the responsible official or authorized representative at the belonging institution for the Research Agreement conclusion.
Amendments of Research Agreements
EORA3_Notice_of_Amendments_3.pdf

Important dates for selection of proposals

■EO-RA3 Late Proposal (Part 2)：Closed

Date of Issue	July 25th, 2023
Proposal Due Date	September 10th, 2023 17:00(JST), 08:00(UTC)
Notification of Selection Results	Around February 2024
Start of Selected Research	From April or later 2024 (after conclusion of Research Agreement)

■Open Recruitments in the past

	EO-RA3 【Closed】	EO-RA3 Late Proposal (Part 1) 【Closed】
Issued	June 10th, 2021	July 19th, 2022
Proposal Due Date	July 27th, 2021	(Arrive by) JST 17:00 on August 31st, 2022
Notification of Selection Results	From Middle of December 2021 to Middle of January 2022	From Middle of December 2022 to Middle of January 2023
Research Started	After April 2022/After contract signed	After April 2023/After contract signed
Application Guideline	3rd_EO-RA_guide_J_revA .pdf 3rd_EO-RA_guide_E .pdf	3rd_EO-RA_guide_J_revB .pdf 3rd_EO-RA_guide_E_revA .pdf

Proposal ID Registration Web Site

Those who consider applying for this EO-RA3 should access to the following Proposal ID Registration Web Site. By clicking the link, the page will be linked to the dedicated site outside of JAXA web site.
[ URL： https://eo-ra.jp/3rd_eo_ra_entry_step1_e.html ]

Contact Information

Earth Observation RA Office
Earth Observation Research Center (EORC)
Tsukuba Space Center
Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8505, Japan
Fax: +81-29-868-2961
E-mail address:

E-mails using “Free Mail” domain such as Gmail may not reach the RA Office by the security of the mail server used. Please avoid using “Free Mail” address as much as possible to contact the Office.