Next-Generation Medium-Sized Satellite No. 4 Successfully Establishes First Contact... Korea's First Agriculture and Forestry Satellite Mission Begins in Earnest

Communication Established with Norwegian Ground Station 2 Hours and 53 Minutes After Launch; Successfully Enters Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Nationwide Imaging Every Three Days; Satellite Imagery Secured for Agriculture, Forestry, Climate, and Disaster Response

The next-generation medium-sized satellite No. 4 (CAS500-4), Korea's first satellite dedicated to the agriculture and forestry sector, successfully established its first communication after launch and entered its designated orbit. As a result, the satellite is now expected to officially begin its mission, capturing images of the entire country every three days to monitor crop growth, forest changes, and disaster situations.

The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA), Rural Development Administration, and Korea Forest Service announced on July 7 that the next-generation medium-sized satellite No. 4 (CAS500-4) was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA, via SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle and successfully made its first contact with the Svalbard ground station in Norway at 7:05 PM Korean time.

On the 7th, the next-generation medium-sized satellite 4 (CAS500-4) was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA, via SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle, and succeeded in first communication with the Svalbard ground station in Norway at 7:05 PM Korea time. Photo by SpaceX website

About 2 hours and 30 minutes after launch, the satellite successfully separated from the launch vehicle at an altitude of approximately 888 kilometers. Around 23 minutes later, its first communication confirmed that the satellite was in good condition and had entered the targeted sun-synchronous orbit as planned.

Nationwide Imaging Every Three Days... Monitoring Agriculture and Forestry

The next-generation medium-sized satellite No. 4 is the first domestic satellite exclusively for agriculture and forestry observation, developed based on a 500-kilogram standard platform. Equipped with a wide-area observation camera with a 120-kilometer observation width and a spatial resolution of 5 meters, it can photograph the entire country every three days.

The images obtained will be used for monitoring crop growth and yield forecasting, tracking the spread of pests and diseases, assessing the flooding of reservoirs and farmlands, as well as monitoring forest disasters such as wildfires and landslides, and analyzing climate change.

Next-generation medium-sized satellite No. 4 (red circle) mounted on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Provided by Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA)

In particular, this satellite is significant because the private sector led the entire process from design and production to testing and verification, utilizing the 500-kilogram standard platform developed during the creation of next-generation medium-sized satellites No. 1 and No. 2.

"Strengthening Private Sector Competitiveness in Satellite Development"

Lee Seung-don, Administrator of the Rural Development Administration, stated, "By integrating satellite imagery and artificial intelligence (AI), we will further advance crop yield forecasting and agricultural disaster response, ushering in an era of data-driven precision agriculture."

Park Eunsik, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, "This will serve as a foundation for proactively responding to forest disasters such as wildfires and landslides, and for implementing scientific forest management."

Tae seog Oh, Administrator of the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA), commented, "The next-generation medium-sized satellite No. 4 marks a milestone in expanding private-led satellite development capabilities. By independently securing satellite information necessary for agriculture, forestry, climate, and disaster response, this will enhance the nation’s satellite information utilization capabilities and strengthen the competitiveness of the private satellite industry."

The next-generation medium-sized satellite No. 4 will undergo initial operation and performance verification for about four months and is scheduled to begin full-scale observation missions in the first half of next year.

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