Japan launches new satellite to boost surveillance
JAPAN: Japan Sunday launched another satellite to strengthen its
surveillance capabilities, including keeping a closer eye on North Korea
as the North vows to stage another nuclear test.
The radar-equipped satellite, along with a radar satellite and other
optical satellites already in operation, will complete a system first
devised in the late 1990s as a response to Pyongyang’s 1998 long-range
missile launch.
The H-IIA rocket blasted off from the southern island of Tanegashima
around 1:40 pm (0440 GMT), according to footage on national broadcaster
NHK.
From an altitude of several hundred kilometres, the satellite will be
able to detect objects on the ground as small as a square metre,
including at night and through cloud cover.
The additional satellite completes a system, albeit almost a decade
behind schedule, that allows Japan to monitor any place in the world at
least once a day.
The rocket also released an experimental optical satellite, whose
technology could eventually enhance the monitoring system.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has said the radar satellite
would be used for information-gathering, including data following
Japan’s 2011 quake and tsunami, but did not mention North Korea by name.
AFP |