Hi Kabir - thanks for your response. Yes that was our starting point. It seems that they dont make archival imagery outside of the US available through this portal. It seems we have to purchase archival scenes from Japan - for a significant cost per scene - hence my query. Best regards - Andrew
Try GLOVIS. I found ASTER over Australia here : http://glovis.usgs.gov/?mission=TERRALOOK&limitMissions=TRUE
In any other case, you should ask the spatial agency or the main operator for research agreements. That can lead to free images services or cheaper imagery.
Yep Glovis have some aster scenes else the Japanese site sells the archive data at about 100$ US per scene. You can get some free sense by writing to Aster science team I got some 11000 km2 free tasking by sending them a proposal for Kuwait.