Japan Successfully Launches Intelligence Satellite

Tokyo, Jan. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. <7011> successfully launched a government intelligence-gathering radar satellite on an H-2A rocket Thursday.

The satellite entered orbit as planned after the rocket lifted off around 10:50 a.m. (1:50 a.m. GMT) from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tanegashima Space Center on the island of Tanegashima in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

Operated by the government's Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, the information-gathering satellite is a de facto spy satellite. Japan introduced such satellites following North Korea's ballistic missile launch in 1998.

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