Korea's First Agriculture and Forestry Satellite 'Next-generation Medium Satellite No. 4' Launched... Photographs Korean Peninsula Every Three Days

Monitoring Crops, Pests, Wildfires, and Landslides:
A New Era of Space Observation for Agriculture and Forestry

After Four Months of Trial Operations,
Full-Scale Missions Begin in the First Half of Next Year

The “Next-Generation Medium-Sized Satellite No. 4,” Korea’s first satellite specialized for agriculture and forestry, was launched into space on July 7. The satellite will photograph the entire Korean Peninsula every three days and carry out observation missions in the agricultural and forestry sectors, including crop analysis and monitoring of damage from wildfires and landslides.

The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) announced that the Next-Generation Medium-Sized Satellite No. 4 was launched at 4:12 p.m. Korean time on this day from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA, aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

SpaceX's launch vehicle 'Falcon 9', carrying the next-generation medium satellite No. 4, is being launched at 12:12 a.m. local time on the 7th from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. Photo by Yonhap News

The Falcon 9 successfully completed first-stage separation just 2 minutes and 28 seconds after launch, and separated the payload fairing at 3 minutes and 15 seconds. The satellite will separate from the launch vehicle approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes after launch, at around 6:42 p.m., and then, approximately 23 minutes later, will attempt its first communication with the ground station in Svalbard, Norway.

The Next-Generation Medium-Sized Satellite No. 4 is a standard 500-kg class satellite weighing 514 kg, with over 75% of both the main body and payload components developed using domestic technology. Its core payload, the wide-area observation camera, has a resolution of 5 meters and can capture a width of 120 km in a single shot, enabling nationwide observation every three days.

Next-Generation Medium Satellite No.4 (red circle) mounted on Falcon 9. Provided by the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA)

The satellite will be used to observe the growth status and pest spread of crops such as rice and soybeans, as well as to monitor areas of reservoir and farmland flooding. It is also expected to provide basic data for wildfire and landslide damage assessment, forest change analysis, and response to climate change and disasters.

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), which oversaw the development, plans for the Next-Generation Medium-Sized Satellite No. 4 to undergo about four months of in-orbit test operation, after which it will officially begin its mission in the first half of next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.