Vandenberg: South Korea plans to launch its fourth medium-sized Earth observation satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, the space agency said. The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) confirmed that the 500-kilogram satellite will be launched at 4:10 p.m. Korea time.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the satellite has completed function inspections and fuel injection over the past month and is now awaiting launch aboard the Falcon 9. It is scheduled to separate from the launch vehicle about 2 hours and 22 minutes after liftoff and will make its first contact with the ground approximately 31 minutes later through the Svalbard ground station in Norway, as stated by KASA.
The satellite carries homegrown payloads, including an observation camera capable of imaging the entire Korean Peninsula every three days. The government anticipates the satellite will be used for a wide range of applications, including agriculture and forest management, forest change monitoring, disaster response, climate change analysis, and public safety enhancement.
After reaching its target orbit at an altitude of about 888 kilometers, the satellite will undergo four months of initial in-orbit operations before beginning full-scale missions in the first half of next year, the agency mentioned.