Watch the Launch

IGS Optical 8

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Mission: Government/Top Secret

Sun-Synchronous Orbit Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-1 Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

The IGS Optical 8 (Intelligence Gathering Satellite) is a Japanese optical reconnaissance satellite. The satellite is operated by the Cabinet Satellite Information Center. The satellite serves both Japan's national defense and civil natural disaster monitoring.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 12, 2024, 5:22 a.m.

Launch success.


Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 12, 2024, 4:44 a.m.

Liftoff.


LL2 • Jan. 12, 2024, 3:46 a.m.

Livestream has started


Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 9, 2024, 5:11 a.m.

1 day slip due to weather.


Cosmic_Penguin • Nov. 13, 2023, 5:27 a.m.

Added launch window.


H-IIA

Family:
Configuration: 202

H-IIA (H2A) is an active expendable launch system operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The liquid-fueled H-IIA rockets have been used to launch satellites into geostationary orbit, to launch a lunar orbiting spacecraft, and to launch Akatsuki, which studied the planet Venus. Launches occur at the Tanegashima Space Center.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    53.0 m
  • Diameter
    4.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    4.0 m
  • Launch Mass
    285.0 T
  • Thrust
    2260.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    H-IIA
  • Family
  • Variant
    202
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    H-IIA 202
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $90000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    10000.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    4100.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

(MHI)

President: Seiji Izumisawa Founded: 1884 Successes: 53 Failures: 1 Pending: 13

Agency Type:

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group. MHI's products include aerospace components, air conditioners, aircraft, automotive components, forklift trucks, hydraulic equipment, machine tools, missiles, power generation equipment, printing machines, ships and space launch vehicles. Through its defense-related activities, it is the world's 23rd-largest defense contractor measured by 2011 defense revenues and the largest based in Japan.

INFO WIKI

Related News

SpaceNews

Japan launches IGS-Optical 8 reconnaissance satellite

Japan launched a new optical reconnaissance satellite late Thursday to boost the country’s remote sensing capabilities.

Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-1


Falcon 9
Deployed
1 hour, 29 minutes ago
SPHEREx & PUNCH
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

SPHEREx is a planned two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light, which, though not visible to the human eye, serves a…


Long March 8
Success
12 hours, 1 minute ago
G60 Polar Group 05
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

18 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technolo…


Long March 3
Success
2 days, 11 hours ago
TJSW-15
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Starship
Failure
5 days, 5 hours ago
Flight 8
Orbital Launch Mount A - SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

Eighth test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle.


Ariane 62
Success
5 days, 12 hours ago
CSO-3
Ariane Launch Area 4 - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

The CSO-3 (Composante Spatiale Optique-3 satellite is the third of three new-generation high-resolution optical imaging satellites for the French mil…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 12-20
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Glonass-K2 No. 14 (Kosmos 2584)
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Glonass-K2 are the fourth generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite navigation system. GLONASS is a Russian space-based navigation system …


Kuaizhou
Failure
1 week, 3 days ago
Unknown Payload
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Details TBD.


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
Progress MS-30 (91P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Long March 2
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
SuperView Neo 1-03 & 04
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Commercial Earth observation satellites (~540 kg each) built by CAST for China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd., with resolution down to …