Japanese satellite program on the solar research for the coming solar maximum

The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) is developing a satellite dedicated to high-energy observations of solar flares. The Solar-A will be launched in August–September, 1991, from the Kagoshima Space Center on board a M3S-II vehicle. The instrument complement emphasizes hard X-ray and soft X-ray imaging, with both high resolution (2.4 arc sec pixel size) and full-Sun field of view. Solar-A contains instruments supplied in part by U.S. and U.K. experimenters. This paper describes the instrumentation and the tentative observing program.