The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency decided on Sunday to defer to Monday the launch of the third one of a set of four spy satellites, which was originally scheduled for later in the day.

The agency announced the postponement of the launch earlier, citing bad weather around launching base.

Forecast has shown that it will be cloudy with a chance of rain on Monday, and if lightning is observed, the launch will be further delayed, Kyodo quoted the agency as saying.

The satellite, a half of the second pair, is an optical one, and has been planned to be launched by an H-2A rocket at 1:35 p.m. (0435 GMT) on Sunday from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture, representing the country's one step further to build a global information gathering system.

The optical satellite is said to be capable of a resolution of one meter and can distinguish objects such as cars on the ground.

If the launch turns to be a success, Japan will send a radar satellite, which is the remaining half of the second pair, later in the year.

The new pair of satellites is designed to work with the first two to take pictures on any point of the earth surface at least once a day.

Japan launched the first pair of satellites successfully in March 2003, but failed the launch of a second set due to rocket problems later that year.

Source: Xinhua