[Anchor]

The upcoming Nuri rocket launch will deploy a record-breaking 15 satellites into space. Among the core payloads are five ultra-small cluster satellites designed for Earth reconnaissance. To achieve this, the mission will attempt a high-difficulty "attitude rotation maneuver" never tried before.

Reporter Jeong Gu-hui has the details.

[Reporter]

The ultra-small cluster satellites are loaded into the very top of the Nuri rocket standing tall at the launch site.

Up until the fourth launch, there was only a single primary payload satellite performing the main mission, but this time, as many as five satellites are on board.

They are "quintuplet satellites" that will carry out Earth observation missions with their cameras.

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

However, spreading out the distances between these satellites over two to three months is no easy task.

The third stage of this Nuri launch will take on a high-difficulty mission to maximize the spacing between the five satellites by continuously changing its attitude.

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

Flying at 7.5 kilometers per second—roughly 10 times the speed of a bullet—precisely controlling the attitude at intervals of 35 to 40 seconds is the most challenging task of this mission.

The mission will be a success once the fourth satellite is deployed at 120 degrees, and the final fifth satellite is separated after flipping the body 180 degrees.

Once the full constellation of 10 satellites is completed—combining the 5 being launched this time with another 5 scheduled for the 6th launch next year—it will be possible to observe the Korean Peninsula more than three times a day, and specifically re-photograph the same location within 24 hours.

[Interview / Lee Sang-hyun / Director, KAIST Advanced Small Satellite Research Center: It will enable the establishment of a high-frequency, precise, quasi-real-time monitoring system, which we expect can be utilized swiftly and accurately for national security, disasters, and calamities.]

Through this 5th launch, South Korea's space industry is expected to secure mass-production technology for manufacturing satellites in large quantities, alongside cluster operation technology.

(Video Editing: Jeon Min-gyu, Video Reporting: Choi Dae-woong, PD: Han Seung-ho, XR: Kim Han-gil, JUNHO, Kim Min-young)