Mem. S.A.It. Vol. 77, 1089 c  SAIt 2006 Memorie della Mid-infrared all-sky survey with AKARI D. Ishihara 1 , T. Onaka 1 , H. Kataza 2 , T. Wada 2 , H. Matsuhara 2,6 , M. Ueno 3 , N. Fujishiro 4,5 , W. Kim 2 , K. Uemizu 2 , Y. Ohyama 2 , S. Oyabu 2 , Y. Ita 2 , I. Sakon 1 , H. Fujiwara 1 , S. Hasegawa 2 , T. Matsumoto 2 , I. Yamamura 2 , T. Tanab´ e 7 , H. Murakami 2,1 , H. Watarai 8 , and M. Cohen 9 1 Department of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, Japan 2 Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, Japan 3 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan 4 Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Japan 5 Present address: Genesia Corp., Japan 6 Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan 7 Institute of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, Japan 8 Office of Space Applications, JAXA, Japan 9 Radio Astronomy Laboratory, 601 Campbell Hall, University of California, U.S.A. Abstract. AKARI (formerly called ASTRO-F) is the first Japanese astronomical infrared satellite and it is now in a sun-synchronous polar orbit at the altitude of 700 km. One of the major programs of AKARI observations is an all-sky survey in the mid- to far-infrared spectral region with 6 photometric bands. AKARI has a 685mm telescope, which is cooled down to about 6K by superfluid liquid helium and mechanical coolers. The expected liquid helium holding time is longer than one year. The AKARI mid-infrared (MIR) survey is being carried out with the 9 and 18 μm bands and the 5σ sensitivities are estimated to be better than 80 and 130 mJy, respectively. The spatial resolution is better than 10 arcseconds at both bands. The sensitivity and spatial resolution of the MIR survey have been verified in orbit. The AKARI MIR survey will achieve a deeper sensitivity and a finer spatial resolution by about an order of magnitude than the previous survey of the 12 and 25 μm with IRAS. It will provide a unique and significant database for studies of various fields of astronomy, ranging from star-formation and debris disk systems to cosmology. The first AKARI point source catalogue is planned to be released to the public 2 years after the completion of the survey. This paper reports the flight performance and the current status of the AKARI MIR survey. Key words. Surveys – Infrared: general – Galaxy: general – ISM: general Send offprint requests to: D. Ishihara, e-mail: ishihara@astron.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp 1. Introduction More than two decades have passed since the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) carried out an all-sky survey for the first time in the infrared with four broad bands centered at