Even though they have received protection from the United States, Japan basically feels threatened by the potential for open conflict with China, North Korea and Russia.
For this reason, for several years the State of Sakura has developed a satellite-based reconnaissance system. And there is news that on Wednesday, January 25, Japan launched its newest spy satellite into orbit.
Quoted from space.com (26/1/2023), the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA rocket carrying the IGS (Intelligence Gathering Satellite) Radar 7 payload took off last Wednesday at 20:50 from the Tanegashima Space Center.
It was stated that the launch of the IGS Radar 7 satellite would add to Japan's reconnaissance capabilities. "The rocket flew according to plan, and it is confirmed that the satellite module has been successfully separated," said Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, as the rocket operator.
The IGS Radar 7 satellite is headed into a sun-synchronous orbit, a polar path in which the satellite zooms in on the Earth's plane at the same local solar time every day. Sun-synchronous orbits provide consistent lighting conditions over time and are highly favored by spy and weather satellites.
The IGS Radar 7 satellite is operated by the Cabinet Satellite Information Center (CSICE), which is part of the Japan Cabinet Research and Intelligence Office.
Not much is known about the specific IGS Radar 7 satellites. However, CSICE has stated that the IGS satellite series is used to gather information necessary for national security and crisis management.
Last Wednesday's launch was the first this year for Japan. Previously, Japan only carried out one launch into orbit in 2022, namely last October, but it failed.
The satellite carrier rocket, the H-IIA, is 174 feet (53 meters) tall and to date has flown 45 times with only one failure, as of November 2003. The rocket has fired several high-profile payloads since its launch in 2001, including sampling asteroid from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft.
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