A Japanese H-IIA rocket will launch the sixth operational radar reconnaissance in Japan’s Information Gathering Satellite System. Japan initiated the Information Gathering Satellite (IGS) Program in 1998 as the country’s first space-based intelligence program to collect data over foreign territories to warn of any potential military threats in the Asia-Pacific Region. The program was in large part driven by the test launch of a North Korean Taepodong rocket that overflew the Japanese territory in 1998 in an apparent attempt to place an object into orbit using a modified intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Mission Resources:

🚀 Launch Vehicle Overview: H-IIA 202

🛰 Payload Overview: Information Gathering Satellites

⏰ Countdown Timeline

☂ Launch Weather

📍Launch Site Schedule