Japan Launches 2 Spy Satellites

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 28, 2003

Japan Launches 2 Spy Satellites

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The National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) launched two spy satellites Friday morning to monitor missile and nuclear activities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kyodo News reported.

According to Kyodo, an H-2A rocket carrying the two spy satellites launched from the Tanegashima Space Center off southern Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture at 10:27 a.m. (0127 GMT) as planned.

The rocket is the fifth version of the domestically developed launch vehicle. The previous four launches lifted off successfully.

The run-up to the launch went smoothly, Kyodo said, adding that the skies were clear early Friday morning. Strong winds blew in the area overnight.

The Japanese government said two intelligence satellites -- one equipped with an optical sensor and the other with a synthetic aperture radar able to distinguish objects on earth one to three meters in size -- are intended to bolster Japan's national defense and help the nation cope with major natural disasters.

The government decided to deploy intelligence satellites after the DPRK launched a Taepodong ballistic missile in 1998, Kyodo said, adding that the satellite project marks a major turnaround in Japan's space development policy, which has been based on the principle of peaceful, nonmilitary use of space.

In Tokyo, the government has decided to open the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, which oversees the spy satellites, with 320 officials including nearly 100 satellite image analysts, Kyodo said.

The government plans to launch two more intelligence satellites this summer and expects to start receiving and analyzing data from the four spy satellites next March, it said.

Japan plans to launch a total of eight spy satellites by March 2009 and is considering sending a data relay satellite into geostationary orbit, it added.

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