Launch Delayed By Weather, Faulty Equipment

Just as it was for NASA's launch last week of the New Horizons probe, third time appears to have also been the charm for Japan's Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS). The four-ton satellite lifted off atop an H-2A rocket Tuesday, after three launch delays attributed to both bad weather and faulty equipment.

The satellite -- nicknamed Daichi, or "Ground" -- carries sensors for terrain mapping and all-weather observations of the entire Asia-Pacific region.

The Associated Press reports Tuesday's successful launch of ALOS clears the way for two more -- spy satellites, that will monitor the ground in North Korea and in other trouble spots on that part of the world.

Japan approved the spy satellite program eight years ago, after North Korea launched a missile over the Japanese mainland (that kind of thing tends to irritate a little.)

Perhaos just as importantly, the successful launch should also give a shot in the arm to Japan's space program -- which was needing a success lately, after the delay in the anticipated report of the Hayabusa probe, now set for 2010 at the earliest.

In November 2003, the first two satellites launched as part of the spy satellite program were also destroyed after the rocket carrying them was detonated, after a booster failed to detach after launch.

Spurred on by China's recent success in launching manned spacecraft, Japan's space agency JAXA has also announced plans to put astronauts of their own into orbit in the future, culminating in a planned moon base no later than 2025.

That marks a significant shift in Japan's space policy -- which previously focused exclusively on unmanned flights.

FMI: www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html