[SatNews] Japan is developing a low-cost surveillance satellite to aid disaster relief and to engage in other uses, as the country looks to expand its reach into emerging markets — this according to government sources.

Japan's trade ministry is collaborating with NEC Corp. and other companies to develop, by 2012, a small satellite that will cost approximately one-fifth of current prices for conventional monitoring satellites, said Japanese trade ministry official Shuichi Kato. NEC will contribute technology the Company developed for the Hayabusa asteroid probe program, whose success in being the first to collect asteroid particles during a seven-year odyssey has captured the imagination of Japan's public. Kato said the satellite would be ready for launch in 2012 and sales would be aimed at emerging countries such as Egypt, Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand, as well as Dubai and Kazakhstan. Japan is also talking to Vietnam about providing the satellite as part of an official development aid program, he added.

The ministry estimates the satellite system would cost approximately 10 billion yen (120 million dollars). NEC's spokesman Shinya Hashizume said the satellite alone would cost about 5 billion yen. The multi-purpose satellite will be capable of monitoring the impact of natural disasters such as flood damage as well as other tasks such as forest conservation or mapping, officials said. Even though the United States dominates the satellite market in terms of sales value, Japan's main competitor in emerging markets is European consortium EADS Astrium whose shareholders include French and Spanish governments as well as Germany's Daimler AG., the Japanese officials stated.