{"id":13971,"date":"2018-02-24T23:43:06","date_gmt":"2018-02-24T15:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/japanese-spy-satellite-launch-delayed-by-poor-weather-forecast\/"},"modified":"2018-02-24T23:43:06","modified_gmt":"2018-02-24T15:43:06","slug":"japanese-spy-satellite-launch-delayed-by-poor-weather-forecast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/japanese-spy-satellite-launch-delayed-by-poor-weather-forecast\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese spy satellite launch delayed by poor weather forecast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
File photo of a Japanese H-2A rocket. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A bad weather forecast has prompted Japanese space officials to delay the launch of an H-2A rocket with a high-resolution government-owned reconnaissance satellite by at least 48 hours until Monday night, U.S. time.<\/p>\n

Ground crews at the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan\u2019s primary spaceport in the southwestern part of the country, will keep the H-2A rocket protected inside a vertical assembly building before rollout to the launch pad around a half-day before liftoff.<\/p>\n

Launch of the H-2A rocket with a Japanese optical spy satellite is now scheduled for a 14-minute window opening at 0434 GMT Tuesday (11:34 p.m. EST Monday). Liftoff is timed for 1:34 p.m. Tuesday Japan Standard Time.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft\u2019s specifications, including its imaging performance, are kept secret by the Japanese government. But the government has acknowledged the satellite will join a fleet of Information Gathering Satellites operated by the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, which reports directly to the Japanese government\u2019s executive leadership.<\/p>\n

It will be the 38th flight of an H-2A rocket, and the 12th time an H-2A launcher has lifted off with an Information Gathering Satellite, a record that includes one launch failure. The 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket will fly in the basic \u201c202\u201d configuration with two strap-on solid rocket boosters. Heavier satellites launching on the H-2A sometimes need four boosters to reach orbit.<\/p>\n

The IGS Optical 6 satellite awaiting launch on the H-2A rocket will head into a polar orbit from Tanegashima.<\/p>\n

Japan has six Information Gathering Satellites operational in orbit, according to a report published late last year by Japan\u2019s Sankei Shimbun newspaper.<\/p>\n

The Japanese surveillance fleet includes a mix of optical and radar spy satellites. The radar-equipped craft, including a satellite launched last year, can peer through clouds and darkness to collect all-weather reconnaissance imagery.<\/p>\n

Japan began the reconnaissance satellite program in 1998 in response to a North Korean missile test over Japanese territory. North Korea\u2019s missile and nuclear programs remain a prime target of the Japanese spy satellite network, but the fleet is capable of global imaging.<\/p>\n

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, operator of the Tanegashima launch base and the H-2A rocket family, are not expected to provide a live video webcast of the mission. Previous launches with secretive IGS satellites also occurred without an official video webcast.<\/p>\n

Media representatives and amateur observers may stream the launch live from viewing sites near the launch pad.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo of a Japanese H-2A rocket. Credit: JAXA A bad weather forecast has prompted Japanese space officials to delay the launch of an H-2A rocket with a high-resolution government-owned reconnaissance satellite by at least 48 hours until Monday night, U.S. time. Ground crews at the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan\u2019s primary spaceport in the southwestern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[159,1662,3028,2356,3029,377,877,25],"class_list":["post-13971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-earth-observation","tag-h-2a","tag-h-2a-f38","tag-igs","tag-igs-optical-6","tag-japan","tag-jaxa","tag-launch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}