Aerospace agencies of Japan said that it has successfully launched a replacement spy satellite on March 26, 2015. The existing device had come to an end of its working life.
The spy satellites were launched by Tokyo during 2000s after the rival neight North Korea fired a mid-range ballistic missile over the Japanese mainland in the western Pacific in 1998. The agency informed that a H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Centre in southwestern Japan.
The satellite was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The device was launched smoothly at 10:21 am. A spokesperson from JAXA said, “the satellite separated and entered orbit as scheduled.”
There are five Japanese intelligence agencies in the orbit with two optical satellites and three radar satellites. Japan also has a back up radar satellite that was launched in February 2015. An official from the Cabinet Office said that the new satellite has come as a replacement to one of the two optical satellites launched in 2009. The satellite that was launched in February 2015 has radar spy equipments that are capable of peering through clouds and even darkness. The device captures high resolution imagery of the Earth’s surface.
Photo Credits: RT
