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Japan to Launch Fourth Spy Satellite |
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TOKYO, Feb. 12, 2007/Satnews Daily/ ― Japan is set to launch its fourth and final spy satellite this week, completing a system that will provide early warning of ballistic missile launches.
The government decided to introduce the reconnaissance satellite system in November 1998, after North Korea test launched a Taepodong ballistic missile over Japan in August. The system consists of two radar and two optical satellites.
The project is three years behind schedule because an H-IIA rocket carrying an optical satellite and a radar satellite failed during launch in November 2003.
The fourth satellite, plus an experimental optical satellite, will be carried aboard an H-IIA lifting off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. After achieving orbit, it will circle Earth at an altitude of 400-600 kilometers, passing over the north and south poles.
The government sent up the spy system's first two satellites, an optical and a radar satellite, in March 2003.
The first two satellites, however, will soon need replacing, as their service life is about five years. After testing is complete, a successor optical satellite will be launched in 2009. A replacement radar satellite will follow in 2011.
The next generation optical satellite will be able to snap images of objects as small as 60 centimeters, compared with the 1-meter resolution of current optical satellites.
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