TOKYO: Japan Sunday launched another satellite to strengthen its surveillance capabilities, including keeping a closer eye on North Korea as the North vows to stage another nuclear test.
The radar-equipped satellite, along with a radar satellite and other optical satellites already in operation, will complete a system first devised in the late 1990s as a response to Pyongyang's 1998 long-range missile launch.
The H-IIA rocket blasted off from the southern island of Tanegashima around 1:40 pm (0440 GMT), according to footage on national broadcaster NHK. From an altitude of several hundred kilometres, the satellite will be able to detect objects on the ground as small as a square metre, including at night and through cloud cover.
The additional satellite completes a system, albeit almost a decade behind schedule, that allows Japan to monitor any place in the world at least once a day. The rocket also released an experimental optical satellite, whose technology could eventually enhance the monitoring system.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has said the radar satellite would be used for information-gathering, including data following Japan's 2011 quake and tsunami, but did not mention North Korea by name.
Pyongyang has vowed to carry out more rocket launches and a third nuclear test in protest at tightened UN sanctions over its banned launches. The North last year launched two long-range rockets. The first failed in April but the second in December flew over the southern Okinawa island chain, jangling nerves in Japan.
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