S Korea’s largest satellite launched on Nuri rocket

Seoul, Dec 3: South Korea launched its largest satellite yet on its nationally developed space rocket early Thursday, the fourth of six planned launches through 2027.

The three-stage Nuri rocket lifted off from the country’s spaceport on an island off the southwestern coastal county of Goheung. Aerospace officials said the rocket placed a 516-kg science satellite and 12 microsatellites into a target orbit about 600 km above Earth.

The Korea Aerospace Administration said the main satellite made successful contact with a South Korean ground station in Antarctica about 40 minutes after liftoff at 1:55 am, confirming that it was functioning normally, including the deployment of its solar panels. The 12 microsatellites will contact ground stations sequentially according to each device’s communication schedule.

Kyunghoon Bae, the country’s science minister, declared the launch a success and said it reaffirms that South Korea has acquired independent space launch and transport capability.

He said the launch represents a “turning point” for the country’s space industry, as it marked the first time a private company — Hanwha Aerospace — assembled the rocket under a technology transfer from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the national space agency.

“Building on today’s success, we will steadfastly pursue the development of next-generation launch vehicles, lunar exploration and deep-space missions,” Bae said.

The main satellite launched Thursday is equipped with a wide-range airglow camera to observe auroral activity and separate systems for measuring plasma and magnetic fields and for testing how life-science experiments perform in space.

The dozen smaller “cube” satellites, developed by university teams and research institutions, include GPS systems to study Earth’s atmosphere, infrared cameras to track plastic in the oceans, and systems for testing solar cells or communication equipment.

Thursday’s event was the country’s first launch involving a Nuri rocket since May 2023, when it successfully placed a 180-kg observation satellite into orbit, and the fourth overall since its first attempt in October 2021, which failed to deliver a dummy device.

Further launches are planned in 2026 and 2027 as part of a multiyear project to advance the country’s space technologies and industries, and to reduce the gap with leading Asian space powers, such as China, Japan and India.