[Anchor]

Among the satellites launched into space by the Nuri rocket, five ultra-small cluster satellites successfully made their first communication with the ground today (October 7). These satellites will orbit the skies over the Korean Peninsula every day to photograph the nation.

Reporter Seo Donggyun has the details.

[Reporter]

These are the five cluster satellites launched by the Nuri rocket.

All five orbit the Earth in the same trajectory, flying through space 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 identical light reflection conditions every time.

These five satellites travel in what is called the "afternoon orbit," allowing them to photograph South Korea in the afternoon.

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

When five more cluster satellites are added during next year's 6th launch, the total of 10 satellites will split into morning and afternoon orbits, allowing them to observe the Korean Peninsula more than three times a day.

The first unit, launched as a prototype two years ago, is already orbiting in the morning track, while the verification satellite launched early this year is orbiting the afternoon track and observing various parts of the world.

Looking at photos sent back by the first unit, the red roof and logo of Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi are clear, and parking lines are even visible in a photo of Qatar.

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

The cube satellites are also performing their respective space missions.

A cube satellite by Space Lintech is embarking on an experiment to grow pharmaceutical crystals in space, which are difficult to form uniformly on the ground due to gravity.

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

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute has taken SK Hynix semiconductors into space to test their performance under exposure to space radiation.

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

In addition to these, the cube satellites will perform space missions ranging from three months to two years each, including observing Earth's magnetic field.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Choi Ho-jun, Yang Ji-hoon | Video editing: Oh Young-taek | PD: Kim Do-gyun, Han Seung-ho | XR: Choi Jae-young, Jeon Yu-geun)