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UPDATED: 11:01, September 26, 2004
Japan plans to develop advanced spy satellite
The Japanese government has decided to start research on an advanced spy satellite and launch it in 2010, Kyodo News reported Saturday.
The satellite will be able to distinguish objects on Earth as small as 50 centimeters, Kyodo quoted government resources as saying.
In addition, the satellite is able to fly over the Earth at a high speed of 29,000 kilometers per hour along a north-south orbit, enabling the government to take the sequence photos once a day, compared with once in very two days under the current satellite system.
The plan is aimed at watching missile and nuclear facilities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kyodo said.
Japan deployed two spy satellites last year, but lost another two in a failed launch attempt last November.
Before the 2010 launch, Japan plans to send up in the next three years reconnaissance satellites updated from the current ones, Kyodo said.
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