[FPSPACE] Japan, spysats

[DwayneDay]

-----Original Message-----
From: Stefan Barensky <stefan at orbireport.com>

>Ground resolution is not the only scale to evaluate military imagery.

>The details of wavelengths actually observed and the discrimination
capabilities they provide are also of value, as well as the capacity for
distant off-nadir pointing.

>Commercially available products may not suit all of a nation's military and
security needs.

>Most of all, relying on commercial systems sometimes does not provide the
required level of discretion when looking over someone's shoulder.

**********

That is true.  However, I suspect that the explanation is more bureaucratic than technical--they keep the systems secret because they do not want people to know what they are looking at.

On this note, there is an article in the current Space News about Japan wanting to buy three more spysats for launch by 2007.  One will be a standard imaging bird, and the other two will be a radar satellite and an advanced imaging satellite to be launched together.  This raises an eyebrow, because up to now they have conducted dual launches, but it seems like they are proposing a single satellite launch.  Does this imply that they have had longevity problems with their imaging satellites?  Or are they trying to build up to a larger constellation?

Japan's level of secrecy on this subject is less than the United States, because they will at least publicly acknowledge what they are procuring and launching.  But it is still a significant level of secrecy.


DDAY