Posted: Mon, May 13, 2002, 9:08 AM ET (1308 GMT)
The United States is loaning a backup weather satellite to Japan to replace an existing satellite on the verge of failure, the AP reported Saturday. The GOES-9 satellite, launched in 1995 by the US and now used as a backup for newer spacecraft, will be repositioned to the western Pacific to back up GMS-5, a Japanese weather satellite launched in 1995 and in danger of failing. GMS-5 was to be replaced by MTSAT-1, but that satellite failed to reach orbit because of a first-stage engine problem with the H-2 that launched it in November 1999. A new satellite is not planned for launch until summer 2003. The Japan Meteorological Agency will pay for the operational costs of using GOES-9.

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