Information Gathering Satellite

An Information Gathering Satellite (IGS) is a satellite in a Japanese spy satellite program. It was started as a response to the 1998 North Korean missile test over Japan. Their main mission is to provide early warning of impending hostile launches in the neighborhood. This programme is under direct control of the cabinet. However it should be noted, that Earth observation is a rather new field for Japan. The first Japanese mission in this field MOS-1 was launched only in 1987. For this reason Japan still lacks some technology in this field with a resolution of one meter. The first pair IGS 1A and IGS 1B was launched on March 28, 2003 with the H-2A. The radar satellite of the pair stopped working in March 2007. The programme had to suffer a big setback when Japan lost the second pair because of the H-2A launch failure on November 29, 2003. IGS 4A and IGS 4B (Information Gathering Satellites 4A and 4B) are another pair of Japanese military reconnaissance satellites that were launched by an H-2 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center at 04:41 UT on 24 February 2007. Japan plans to launch optical satellite IGS 5 with an improved resolution of 60 cm during FY 2009.

Timetable

On 28 March 2003, presumably partly in response to North Korea's launch of a Taepodong rocket over Japan in 1998, and partly to provide a source of satellite images other than through cooperation with the US, Japan launched a radar and an optical spy satellite, officially known as Information Gathering Satellites (情報収集衛星, Information Gathering Satellites^?) IGS-1A and IGS-1B. These satellites follow one another at 37-minute separation in a 492km orbit, which passes over Pyongyang at 11:22am each day, according to observations collected on the seesat-L mailing list. A second pair of satellites were lost in an H-IIA launch accident in November 2003. An optical surveillance satellite IGS-2A was launched on 11 September 2006; a radar satellite and an unexpected third optical satellite suspected to be of a more advanced type were launched on 24 February 2007.

References

• "Lifting The Darkness On Japan's Next Spy Satellite", SpaceDaily, Nov 27, 2006.
• "Japan launches new spy satellite", bbc.co.uk, 11 Sep 2006.
• "Japanese launch fails", SPACEFLIGHT NOW, Nov 29, 2003.
• "Japanese rocket puts spy spacecraft into orbit", SPACEFLIGHT NOW, 24 February 2007
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