A Japanese remote-sensing satellite that mapped land areas, surveyed Earth resources, and monitored disaster sites using techniques developed from its predecessors such as the Advanced Earth-Observing Satellite (ADEOS). ALOS has three sensors: a stereo mapping camera to measure land elevation, a visible and near-infrared radiometer to observe the covering of land surfaces, and a synthetic aperture radar that enables day-and-night and all-weather land observation. ALOS launched from the Tanegashima Space Centre in January 2006; it lost power in May 2011 and shut down.