Japan launches its fourth spy satellite

TOKYO: Japan launched its fourth spy satellite on Saturday, improving its ability to monitor potential threats including North Korea, whose missile and nuclear tests have spooked the region.

An H-2A rocket, delayed three times by bad weather, finally lifted off from the southern island of Tanegashima, carrying a radar satellite that will join two optical satellites and another radar satellite already in operation.

With the full complement of four satellites, Japan will be able to monitor any point on Earth once a day, government officials have said.

Japan's spy satellite programme was initiated after North Korea launched a ballistic missile in 1998 that flew over Japan.

The programme was delayed in 2003 when a rocket carrying two satellites veered off course and had to be destroyed in a spectacular fireball.

North Korea ratcheted up regional tensions last year when it conducted a nuclear test in October after a salvo of missile tests in July.

In January, China destroyed one of its own satellites by firing a ballistic missile at it, in an experiment that sparked criticism around the world.

Japan's space scientists have long complained that the country's technical prowess has fallen behind because of a 1969 parliamentary resolution limiting the use of space to peaceful purposes.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is likely to submit a bill to the current session of parliament that would ease regulations and allow non-aggressive military use of space, LDP officials have said.

The rocket launched on Saturday was also carrying an experimental optical satellite, aimed at improving the level of detail obtained from the next generation of satellites.

At present, Japan's satellites can distinguish objects a metre (3 feet) or more in diameter, whereas US military satellites are said to be able to do so for items one-tenth as large.