Japan to launch satellite in September

The satellite, part of a program started in 2003 in concern over secretive North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, will be launched atop the domestically developed H2-A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, the space agency JAXA said in a statement.

Photo: Japan to launch satellite in September

It would be the third intelligence-gathering satellite Japan has launched. The first two were put into orbit in March 2003. JAXA plans to launch a fourth by the end of the year.

The program, overseen by the Cabinet, would enable Japan to survey any point in the world.

Tokyo's intelligence-gathering satellite program was prompted by North Korea's surprise test launch of a long-range missile over Japan's main island in 1998. The government's original plan was to put a total of eight intelligence-gathering satellites into orbit through 2006 to keep watch on the communist country, according to the AP.