Information Gathering Satellite: Difference between revisions

{{Nihongo|'''Information Gathering Satellite'''|情報収集衛星|Jōhō Shūshū Eisei}} isare athe [[satellite]]s inof athe Japanese [[spy satellite]] program. It was started as a response to the 1998 [[North Korea]]n 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 of the Information Gathering Satellites werehave been launched byan [[H-IIA]] rocketrockets from the [[Tanegashima Space Center]].

On 28 March 2003, presumably partly in response to [[North Korea]]'s launch of a [[Taepodong-1]] rocketmissile 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|reason=very specific amount, but current sources only state thethat the US charged Japan -- not how much|date=January 2020}} Japan launched a radar and an optical [[spy satellite]], officially known as IGS 1A and IGS 1B.<ref name="1stlaunch">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2892641.stm|title=Analysis: Japan's spy satellites|date=28 March 2003|work=News article|publisher=[[BBC NEWSNews]]|accessdateaccess-date=23 December 2009}}</ref>·<ref name="1stlaunch"/> These satellites follow one another at 37-minute separation in a 492&nbsp;km orbit, which [[pass (spaceflight)|passes]] over [[Pyongyang]] at 11:22 each day, according to observations collected on the [[SeeSat-Lsatellite watching]] mailing list.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

The program suffered a setback when Japan lost the second pair of satellites because of an [[H-IIA]] launch failure on 29 November 2003.<ref name="2ndlaunch">{{cite web|url=http://spaceflightnow.com/h2a/f6/|title=Japanese launch fails|date=29 November 2003|work=News article|publisher=Spaceflight Now|accessdateaccess-date=23 December 2009}}</ref>

Except the satellite which failed in launching, a second optical surveillance satellite IGS 3A was launched on 11 September 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5333560.stm|title=Japan launches new spy satellite|date=11 September 2006|work=News article|publisher=BBC NEWSNews|accessdateaccess-date=23 December 2009}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0702/24h2aigs/|title=Japanese rocket puts spy spacecraft into orbit|date=24 February 2007|work=News article|publisher=Spaceflight Now|accessdateaccess-date=23 December 2009}}</ref>

A fourth optical satellite IGS 5A was launched on 28 November 2009. This satellite has a higher resolution than the previous generations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spaceflightnow.com/h2a/f16/|title=Japan launches spy satellite under veil of secrecy|date=28 November 2009|work=News article|publisher=Spaceflight Now|accessdateaccess-date=23 December 2009}}</ref>

Late March 2007, the first [[Synthetic aperture radar|SAR]] satellite in the series, IGS 1B, suffered a critical power failure.<ref name="stopsat">{{cite web |url=http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Japanese_Spy_Satellite_Suffers_Critical_Power_Failure_999.html|title=Japanese Spy Satellite Suffers Critical Power Failure|date=27 March 2007|work=News article|publisher=SPACE WAR|accessdateaccess-date=23 December 2009}}</ref>·<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Japanese_Spy_Satellite_Suffers_Critical_Power_Failure_999.html|title=Japanese Spy Satellite Suffers Critical Power Failure.|date=27 March 2007|work=News article|publisher=Space War|accessdateaccess-date=21 August 2011}}</ref> The satellite has since been observed to steadily come down and was clearly no longer under control.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2011/07/update-on-igs-1b.html|title=An Update on IGS 1B|date=6 July 2011|publisher=SatTrackCam Leiden|accessdateaccess-date=15 July 2011}}</ref> An uncontrolled re-entry of this satellite occurred on 26 July 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sattrackcam.blogspot.nl/2012/08/the-re-entry-of-igs-1b-on-26-july-2012.html|title=The re-entry of IGS 1B on 26 July 2012 |date=8 August 2012|publisher=SatTrackCam Leiden|accessdateaccess-date=15 September 2012}}</ref> Since summer 2010, another of the SAR satellites, IGS 4B has also been unable to carry out its monitoring functions.<ref name="SAR SAT">{{cite web|url=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T101009002352.htm|title=Govt to build backup intel satellite|date=10 October 2010|work=News article|publisher=THE DAILY YOMIURI|accessdateaccess-date=11 October 2010}}</ref>

|rowspan="2"|28 March 2003||align="center"| IGS 1A || IGS-Optical 1 ||[[Optoelectronics|Optical]]||27698|| {{COSPAR|2003-009A}} ||Retired||1st generation of optical||[[Panchromatic film|Panchromatic sensor]]:<br/>About 1 m (mono)<br>[[Multi-spectral image|Multi-spectral sensor]]:<br/>About 5 m (color)||rowspan="2"|486-491486–491&nbsp;km, 97.3°, 94.4 min||rowspan="2"|[[H-IIA|H2A]] 2024||rowspan="2"|Success

|11 September 2006||align="center"| IGS 3A || IGS-Optical 2 ||Optical||29393|| {{COSPAR|2006-037A}}||Retired||2nd generation of optical<br>(Improved type)||1 m||478-479478–479&nbsp;km, 97.4°, 94.2 min||[[H-IIA|H2A]] 202||Success

|rowspan="2"|24 February 2007||align="center"| IGS 4A || IGS-Optical 3V ||Optical||30586|| {{COSPAR|2007-005A}} ||Retired||3rd generation of optical<br>(Largely improved type)||About 60&nbsp;cm||rowspan="2"|481-494481–494&nbsp;km, 97.2°, 94.4 min||rowspan="2"|[[H-IIA|H2A]] 2024||rowspan="2"|Success

|28 November 2009||align="center"| IGS 5A || IGS-Optical 3 ||Optical||36104|| {{COSPAR|2009-066A}} ||Retired <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/houdou/pdf/170915satellite.pdf |script-title=ja:情報収集衛星光学3号機の運用終了について |date=15 September 2017 |publisher=Cabinet Secretariat |accessdateaccess-date=20 September 2017}}</ref>||3rd generation of optical<br>(Largely improved type)||About 60&nbsp;cm||Unknown||[[H-IIA|H2A]] 202||Success

|22 September 2011 ||align="center"|IGS 6A || IGS-Optical 4 ||Optical||37813|| {{COSPAR|2011-050A}} ||OperationalRetired||4th generation of optical||About 60&nbsp;cm||Unknown||[[H-IIA|H2A]] 202||Success

|26 March 2015||align="center"| IGS O-5 || IGS-Optical 5 || Optical || 40538 || {{COSPAR|2015-015A}} ||Operational||5th generation of optical||30&nbsp;cm <ref name = "sankei15326">[http://www.sankei.com/life/news/150326/lif1503260021-n1.html 「北」監視能力の向上期待　情報収集衛星打ち上げ成功] Sankei 26 March 2015 </ref> or 40&nbsp;cm <ref name = "asahi15326">[http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH3V2T1PH3VTIPE006.html H2Aロケット28号機打ち上げ成功　情報収集衛星搭載] 26 March 2015</ref>||Unknown||[[H-IIA|H2A]] 202||Success

|27 February 2018 <ref>[https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/02/japanese-h-iia-rocket-igs-6-launch/ Japanese H-IIA launches IGS Optical 6 satellite]. William Graham, ''NASASpaceflight''. 26 February 2018.</ref> ||align="center"| IGS O-6 || IGS-Optical 6 || Optical || 43223 || {{COSPAR|2018-021A}} || Operational || || 30 cm <ref name ="sankei180227">{{cite news|url=https://www.sankei.com/article/20180227-NEVTZ7HJ3RPF3AUCG3JQ44CETM/ |title=情報収集衛星の打ち上げ成功　約30センチの高解像度、北朝鮮の監視強化へ|publisher= Sankei|date= 2018-02-27}}</ref> || Unknown || [[H-IIA|H2A]] 202|| Success

[[Category:ReconnaissanceImaging reconnaissance satellites]]

[[Category:Space syntheticSynthetic aperture radar satellites]]