FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2003
Japan launches first spy satellites
AP
TANEGASHIMA, Japan: Japan's first spy satellites were blasted into orbit on Friday in a multi-billion dollar surveillance program to monitor neighboring North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons and provide advance warning of long-range missile tests.
The two satellites, the first of at least four in the 250 billion yen ($2.05 billion) spy programme, blasted off into clear but windy skies atop a black-and-orange H2-A rocket, Japan's main launch vehicle.
"The rocket has successfully lifted off," flight controllers announced minutes afterward. "It is flying smoothly and is on course."
Final word on whether the satellites had entered the proper orbit was expected later.
Friday's launch from the Tanegashima Space Center, a sprawling complex of launchpads on this rugged island about 1,200 km southwest of Tokyo, marked a milestone for Japan's space program, which had previously been limited to strictly non-military, peaceful missions.
The satellites, with both conventional cameras and radar imaging, are expected to be in use for about five years. If all goes well, they will orbit from 400 km to 600 km above earth and supply images regardless of weather conditions.
The date for the subsequent launches has not been announced. Officials say the satellites are not intended to provoke North Korea, and will be used for other missions, such as monitoring natural disasters.
But they acknowledged that the programme was prompted by the 1998 "Taepodong shock," when a North Korean Taepodong ballistic missile flew over Japan's main island before crashing into the Pacific off Alaska in 1998.
North Korea, however, has protested the programme as a "grave threat" and a "hostile act" that violates the spirit of a bilateral agreement reached six months ago that included a moratorium on long-range missile launches.
A North Korean government spokesman, quoted in the North's official media last week, hinted that if Tokyo went ahead with the launch Pyongyang might test-fire a long-range missile of its own.
US and Japanese officials said that the North could be preparing such a test, but added there was no conclusive evidence a test is imminent.
The paucity of clear data on what Japan's enigmatic Communist neighbour is doing is one reason why Tokyo wants its own eyes in orbit.
Japan now gets its intelligence primarily from the US, which, along with spy satellites of its own, conducts frequent surveillance flights out of an air base on the southern Japan island of Okinawa.
But heightening tensions over the North's suspected development of nuclear weapons and its increasingly hostile stance toward Washington have caused deep concern in this country - virtually all of which is within range of its Taepodong missiles.
To discourage any brinkmanship, the US, which has roughly 50,000 troops stationed in Japan, has deployed one of its aircraft carriers off the Korean Peninsula and bombers to the Pacific island of Guam.
Tokyo also sent an Aegis-equipped destroyer to the Japan Sea, which lies between Japan and North Korea.
But with Washington's attention focused on its war on Iraq, Pyongyang has shown little interest in easing regional fears. North Korea recently launched a short-range missile on the eve of the inauguration of South Korea's president and significantly escalated tensions by sending its fighters to intercept one of the Japan-based American spy flights while it was in international airspace.
No shots were fired, and the plane returned safely to Okinawa. Washington strongly protested the incident, but has since resumed the flights.
Copyright 2003 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.