Information Gathering Satellite (情報収集衛星, Jōhō Shūshū Eisei) are the satellites of the Japanese spy satellite program. It was started as a response to the 1998 North Korean missile test over Japan. The satellite program's main mission is to provide early warning of impending hostile launches in the region. This program is under the direct control of the cabinet. All Information Gathering Satellites have been launched by H-IIA rockets from the Tanegashima Space Center.
History
On 28 March 2003, presumably partly in response to North Korea's launch of a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan in 1998, and partly to provide a source of satellite images other than through cooperation with the US, where the US charged roughly US$10,000 for each satellite image,[citation needed] Japan launched a radar and an optical spy satellite, officially known as IGS 1A and IGS 1B.[1]·[1] These satellites follow one another at 37-minute separation in a 492 km orbit, which passes over Pyongyang at 11:22 each day, according to observations collected on the satellite watching mailing list.[citation needed]
The program suffered a setback when Japan lost the second pair of satellites because of an H-IIA launch failure on 29 November 2003.[2]
Except the satellite which failed in launching, a second optical surveillance satellite IGS 3A was launched on 11 September 2006.[3]
A third optical satellite IGS 4A and a second radar satellite IGS 4B were launched on 24 February 2007. IGS 4A is a more advanced and experimental optical satellite.[4]
A fourth optical satellite IGS 5A was launched on 28 November 2009. This satellite has a higher resolution than the previous generations.[5]
Late March 2007, the first SAR satellite in the series, IGS 1B, suffered a critical power failure.[6]·[7] The satellite has since been observed to steadily come down and was clearly no longer under control.[8] An uncontrolled re-entry of this satellite occurred on 26 July 2012.[9] Since summer 2010, another of the SAR satellites, IGS 4B has also been unable to carry out its monitoring functions.[10]
Japan launched IGS-Optical 7 reconnaissance satellite from the Tanegashima Space Center, 9 February 2020 aboard an H-2A rocket after a 12-day delay caused by a nitrogen leak. Japanese crews returned the H-2A rocket to its vertical assembly building at Tanegashima for repairs following the aborted countdown on 27 January. Officials from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, builder and prime contractor for the H-2A rocket, said the leak detected during the previous countdown was in the system providing conditioned air to the rocket. The 53-m H-2A rocket returned to Launch Pad No. 1 at the Yoshinobu launch complex at Tanegashima on 7 February in preparation for the mission's second launch attempt. Japan's government-owned orbiting robotic spy platforms are officially known as "Information Gathering Satellites" and come in radar and optical imaging variants. The spacecraft awaiting liftoff on the next H-2A flight — designated IGS Optical 7 — is the 18th Information Gathering Satellite launched by Japan's government since 2003, including two satellites lost in an H-2A launch failure. The spacecraft's specifications, including its imaging performance, are kept secret by the Japanese government. The Information Gathering Satellites are operated by the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, which reports directly to the Japanese government's executive leadership.[11]
