By Zhang Ming’ai
The Japanese government plans to launch nine satellites within five years to monitor the world’s oceans 24/7, the Japanese media reported, on July 7.
The satellites, which are heat-emission detection satellites, will all work normally at night. Each satellite costs about 20 billion Japanese yen.
Currently, the Japanese Coast Guard uses radars to monitor foreign ships approaching Japan’sterritorial waters.
After the launch of the nine satellites, Japan will be able to quickly spot foreign ships coming near Japan’s territorial waters.
Japan’s present satellite system can only work less than eight hours a day.
The strained relationship between China and Japan, caused by the Diaoyu Islands dispute, lead the media to interpret Japan’s intention as an attempt to target China.
Japan also plans to sell the monitored data and analyzing technology to Southeast Asian countries.
Report said the satellite monitoring system could also help dealing with Somali pirates and natural disasters like tsunamis.
Via: http://www.china.org.cn/
