Putting Quintuplets into Orbit... Challenging Separation While Spinning 180 Degrees

[Anchor]

The success of this Nuri rocket launch depends on whether its five main payload satellites, designed to observe the Korean Peninsula, successfully enter their designated orbits. The key is to position these five satellites to surround the Earth at regular intervals, a task known to be extremely challenging.

Reporter Jeong Gu-hui has the details.

[Reporter]

At the very top of the Nuri rocket, standing tall at the launch site, are micro-cluster satellites.

Up to the fourth launch, there was only one main payload satellite performing the core mission, but this time, as many as five satellites are on board.

They are quints satellites tasked with observing the Earth through cameras.

The five satellites orbit the same trajectory, rotating around the Earth at 72-degree intervals—dividing 360 degrees into five—to photograph targets on the ground.

However, spreading out the distance between the satellites across two to three months is no easy feat.

The third stage of this Nuri launch will attempt a high-difficulty mission by changing its posture to widen the distance between the five satellites as much as possible.

After separating the first satellite, the body will tilt 60 degrees to release the second, and then separate the third at a 90-degree angle.

Flying at 7.5 kilometers per second—about 10 times the speed of a bullet—precisely controlling its posture at 35 to 40-second intervals is the most difficult challenge of this mission.

Separating the fourth satellite at 120 degrees, and finally releasing the fifth satellite by flipping the body 180 degrees, will mark a success.

Once the complete system of 10 satellites is achieved—combining the five being launched this time with another five scheduled for the sixth launch next year—it will be possible to observe the Korean Peninsula more than three times a day and, in particular, re-photograph the same spot within 24 hours.

[Interview / Lee Sang-hyun / Head of KAIST Advanced Micro-Satellite Project: It will be possible to establish a high-frequency, precise, near-real-time monitoring system, which we expect can be used quickly and accurately for national security, disasters, and calamities.]

Through this fifth launch, South Korea's space industry is expected to secure mass-production technology for manufacturing satellites in large quantities, along with cluster operation technology.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
Reported by Jeong Gu-hui | Video by Choi Dae-woong | Video Editing by Jeon Min-gyu | PD by Han Seung-ho | XR by Kim Han-gil, JUNHO, and Kim Min-young
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.