3rd LD Writethru: Japan launches backup intelligence satellite

Japan on Sunday launched a backup information gathering satellite (IGS) with a radar reconnaissance payload for the Japanese government, the country's first launch of this year.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.-- Japan's space agency and the commercial operator of the H-2A rocket-- launched the spy satellite aboard a H-2A rocket at 10:21 a.m. (0121 GMT) on Sunday from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan's southwestern Kagoshima prefecture. About 20 minutes later, the rocket and the satellite separated as planned.

The launch was supposed to take off on Jan. 29, but was delayed due to adverse weather conditions.

The information gathering satellite is equipped with a radar spy instrument capable of peering through clouds, darkness and camouflage to obtain high-resolution imagery of the Earth's surface.

The exact capabilities of the satellite are kept secret by the Japanese government.

Intelligence satellites are believed to be employed to monitor ground surfaces to gain information related to national security and disasters.

Information obtained and images captured by the satellites are subject to a law enacted last year to enable the Japanese government to designate information it deems sensitive as state secrets, according to Kyodo news agency.

Operated by Japan's Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, which reports directly to the government's executive leadership, the country's IGS program consists of optical and radar imaging spacecraft.

The satellite launched on Sunday is the sixth radar satellite and the 13th overall for IGS, including two prototype optical satellites, since the country's first two IGS satellites were launched in 2003. The country's newest spy satellites were sent up by an H-2A rocket in January 2013.

Sunday's payload is a further second-generation radar satellite which will provide the constellation with redundancy in the event that one of the two spacecraft is already in orbit malfunctions, according to media reports. The additional satellite was constructed after both first-generation radar satellites failed within four years of launch to guard against such an occurrence with the second-generation spacecraft.

A further IGS launch is expected to occur later this year, with the first third-generation optical imaging satellite. Further launches to replenish and upgrade the constellation are expected to continue in the coming years. Endi