Nuri's 5th Launch Successful... 14 Satellites Safely Sent Into Space

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Among the Nuri satellites deployed in space, five compact cluster satellites successfully established their first communications with the ground yesterday (Oct. 7). These cluster satellites, which can be considered Nuri's main payloads, will take photos of South Korea every day from now on.

Reporter Seo Donggyun.

[Reporter]

These are the five cluster satellites launched by Nuri.

All five orbit the Earth in the same trajectory, flying in a "Sun-synchronous orbit," where the orbital plane maintains a constant angle with the Sun.

Because the angle with the Sun does not change, specific regions can be photographed under the exact same light reflection conditions every time.

These five satellites orbit in the so-called "afternoon orbit," which allows them to photograph South Korea in the afternoon.

They observe the Korean Peninsula and surrounding waters at intervals of about 20 minutes.

With five more cluster satellites to be added in the 6th launch next year, a total of 10 satellites—split evenly between morning and afternoon orbits—will be able to observe the Korean Peninsula more than three times a day.

The No. 1 satellite, launched for testing two years ago, is already orbiting in the morning orbit, while the verification satellite launched early this year is orbiting in the afternoon orbit to observe various parts of the world.

Looking at the photos sent back by the No. 1 satellite, the red roof and logo of Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi are clear, and even parking lines are visible in a photo of Qatar.

[Kim Jin-hee / Head of Artificial Satellite Division, Korea AeroSpace Administration: High-resolution satellites can only capture an area of about 10 kilometers. But if there are multiple satellites, we can capture a variety of wide areas.]

CubeSats will also carry out their respective space missions.

Spacelinq's CubeSat will embark on an experiment to grow pharmaceutical crystals in space, which are difficult to make uniformly on Earth due to gravity.

[Kim Byung-ho / Head of Space Medicine Business Division, Spacelinq: If we can find a more stable structure and different crystal form to make it stable, it will have good portability and somewhat reduced toxicity.]

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute will take SK hynix semiconductors into space to verify their performance in a space radiation exposure environment.

[Kim Sang-gu / Principal Researcher, Korea Aerospace Research Institute: If we domesticate (space components), we will be in a situation where we can procure parts cheaper and faster.]

In addition, the CubeSats will carry out space missions lasting anywhere from three months to two years, including observing the Earth's magnetic field.

(Video reporting: Choi Ho-jun, Yang Ji-hun | Video editing: Oh Young-taek | PD: Kim Do-gyun, Han Seung-ho | XR: Choi Jae-young, Jeon Yu-geun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.