Japan launches spy satellite to monitor North Korea
A new Japanese spy satellite has started beaming back images from North Korea as Tokyo steps up monitoring of its unpredictable neighbour.
Japan's H-2A rocket lifts off from the launchiung pad at the Tanegashima space centre in Kagoshima prefecture Photo: AFP
By Julian Ryall, Tokyo
12:01PM BST 26 Sep 2011
The images include pictures of North Korea's suspected missile launch sites and nuclear facilities.
The classified payload was launched from the Tanegashima Space Centre, on a remote island off southern Japan, on Friday and is orbiting at a height of 300 miles.
The government's Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Centre and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which launched the satellite atop one of its 174-foot-tall H-2A rockets, have declined to reveal details of the mission.
The vehicle is the fourth "Information Gathering Satellite" to be launched since March 2003. The first satellite was put into orbit after North Korea fired a missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean in 1998.
Ignoring international pressure, North Korea fired a Taepodong-2 missile - with an estimated range of 4,100 miles - in April 2009 and has carried out regular tests of short-range weapons since.
Mother excavates school to find daughter's body
Bird droppings cause power cuts
Japanese tsunami survivors use lookalike dolls
According to experts, the £322.7 million satellite, built by Mitsubishi Electric Corp., is fitted with optical cameras and a telescope to provide images to the Japanese intelligence and defence authorities. The satellite is able to identify targets as small as 23 inches.
Two of the earlier satellites have reached the end of their operational lives, but working with the surviving vehicle the new satellite will be tasked with providing advance warning of an imminent missile launch.
World News »
North Korea »
Related Partners
The best way to transfer money overseas
Fukushima, five years on
Feline feeding frenzy on Cat Island
Japan conducts navy exercises
Fukushima's exclusion zone
Japan shows off weaponry
Hiroshima anniversary