Japan to launch spy satellite
Posted: 16 February 2007 1231 hrs

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TOKYO : Japan is set to launch its latest spy satellite, giving Tokyo the ability to eavesdrop anywhere in the world each day and better monitor North Korea.

It is the last of four spy satellites that Japan decided to put into orbit in 1998 after it was shocked by North Korea firing a missile over Japan's main island.

An H-2A rocket carrying the radar satellite was set to lift off at 1:41 and 1:51 pm (0441 and 0451 GMT) in southern Kagoshima Prefecture after a delay of one day due to bad weather, a space agency spokesman said.

Once the fourth satellite is in orbit, Japan will have the ability to spy anywhere on Earth at least once a day, according to the government.

"With the launch Friday, the 1998 plan will be complete, but we are also planning to launch the next-generation satellites in a few years," said a Cabinet Office official in charge of the launch.

The rocket will also carry into space an experimental optical satellite to test operations for future espionage operations.

Japan sees itself as the top target of North Korea, which tested an atom bomb last year but signed an agreement this week to shut down key nuclear facilities.

Japan was particularly incensed last month when China, North Korea's main ally, shot down one of its own satellites in an experiment -- demonstrating, at least theoretically, that no satellite was safe.

Japan has been expanding its space operations and has set a goal of sending an astronaut to the moon by 2020.

But it faced an embarrassing failure in November 2003 when it had to destroy a rocket carrying a spy satellite 10 minutes after lift-off because a rocket booster failed to separate.

The failure led Japan to suspend launches for more than a year. - AFP /dt