차세대중형위성 1호, 두 차례 연기 끝에 카자흐서 발사

South Korea's next-generation observation satellite has been successfully launched into space.
The result of years of investment by a relative latecomer in the global race to space development.
Han Seong-woo sheds light on the latest step taken.

Three, two, one, lift off...
At precisely 3:07 PM on Monday, Korea time, South Korea's next-generation, mid-sized observation satellite was launched on a Russian rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan...
102 minutes later, the satellite successfully made contact with the Svalbard Satellite Station in Norway after reaching its target orbit.
It is scheduled to make contact with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute in Daejeon at 11:24 PM.
The 540-kilogram satellite was originally slated to be launched last Saturday.
But the launch was postponed due to problems in the upper part of the carrier rocket.
Equipped with a domestically developed imaging sensor system, the satellite will conduct its four-year observation mission at almost 500 kilometers above the earth's surface.
After a trial run for six months, it's scheduled to provide precise videos of the planet from October.

"With the spatial data collected, we can make video maps of border regions where aircraft cannot fly over like North Korea. Also, in the event of a national emergency or a natural disaster like a forest fire or a flood, we can use this satellite passing over the Korean Peninsula to film the area and quickly provide related information."

In late January, the satellite was moved to Kazakhstan where over some 50 days, engineers from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute ran inspections, injected fuel and completed other preparations.
Another mid-sized satellite will be launched next year, with Korea Aerospace Industries overseeing the job.
Korea also aims to launch its first domestically developed rocket Nuri this October, and is looking to launch a satellite using a homegrown rocket in the second half of 2023.
According to the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, South Korea had 17 operational satellites as of the end of 2020, far fewer than the United States with 1,897, China with 412 and Russia's 176.
Han Seong-woo, Arirang News.

#launche #satellite #Kazakhstan

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2021-03-22, 22:00 (KST)