 Information Gathering Satellite

On 28 March 2003, presumably partly in response to North Korea's launch of a Taepodong-1 missile 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, Japan launched a radar and an optical spy satellite, officially known as IGS 1A and IGS 1B.· These satellites follow one another at 37-minute separation in a 492 km orbit, which passes over Pyongyang at 11