Japan shot a new spy satellite into orbit, successfully conducting this year’s first launch of the H-IIA carrier rocket. The Joho Shushu Eisei (JSE) series satellite became the fifth in Tokyo’s radar and surveillance orbit group.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries joint project went into space at 10:21 a.m. local time from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyodo news agency reports.
Japanese space agency officials have successfully launched a rocket carrying an intelligence-gathering satellite.
The officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the H2A rocket on Sunday morning from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.
The officials later announced that the rocket had successfully put the radar satellite into orbit.
The satellite will gather intelligence related to national security and other data. It's capable of photographing objects on the Earth's surface at night or in bad weather.
It can also identify objects as small as 1 meter in width from an altitude of several hundred kilometers.
The officials will also use the satellite to gather data in case of a natural disaster.
Japan has a reconnaissance system made up of two radar satellites and two optical satellites that cover every part of the globe at least once a day. The new satellite will act as a backup in case either or both of the radar satellites fail.
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