The satellite program's main mission is to provide early warning of impending hostile launches in the region.
[citation needed] The program suffered a setback when Japan lost the second pair of satellites because of an H-IIA launch failure on 29 November 2003.
[5] Late March 2007, the first SAR satellite in the series, IGS 1B, suffered a critical power failure.
[10] On 9 February 2020, Japan launched IGS-Optical 7 reconnaissance satellite from the Tanegashima Space Center aboard an H-2A rocket.
Following the discovery of the leak, the rocket was returned to its vertical assembly building, where it underwent repairs.