[Anchor]

The success of this Nuri rocket launch hinges on whether it can successfully place five primary observation satellites into orbit to monitor the Korean Peninsula.

The key is positioning the five satellites to surround Earth at regular intervals, and Reporter Jeong Gu-hui explains the details.

[Reporter]

At the very top of the Nuri rocket standing tall at the launch pad are ultra-small cluster satellites.

While up to the fourth launch there was only a single primary satellite performing core missions, this launch carries as many as five satellites.

They are quintuplet satellites tasked with observing Earth using cameras.

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

However, spacing them this far apart over a period of two to three months is no easy task.

The third stage of this Nuri launch will attempt a high-difficulty mission of altering its attitude to maximize the distance between the five satellites.

After releasing the first satellite, the body will tilt by 60 degrees to release the second satellite, and then release 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 attitude at intervals of 35 to 40 seconds is the most challenging task of this mission.

Releasing the fourth satellite at 120 degrees and the final fifth satellite after flipping the body 180 degrees will mark a success.

Once the complete constellation of 10 satellites is formed—combining the five 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 re-photograph the same location within 24 hours.

[Lee Sang-hyun / Director, KAIST Ultra-Small Cluster Satellite Project: It will enable the establishment of a high-frequency, precision, near-real-time monitoring system, which we expect can be utilized swiftly 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.

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