Oh Tae-seok, administrator of the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), speaks during a press briefing at KASA headquarters in the southeastern city of Sacheon, Wednesday. Yonhap
SACHEON — South Korea plans to launch its fourth next-generation medium-sized satellite on July 9, with final preparations under way at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the country's space agency said.
Oh Tae-seok, administrator of the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), announced the plan during a meeting with reporters at the agency's headquarters in Sacheon, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Wednesday.
The 500-kilogram Earth observation satellite will be jointly utilized by the Rural Development Administration and the Korea Forest Service for applications such as crop growth analysis and wildfire monitoring.
The launch will mark KASA's third satellite mission in less than a year, following the successful deployment of Multipurpose Satellite 7 in December and next-generation medium-sized satellite No. 2 in May. Both satellites are currently operating normally and carrying out their missions.
At the same time, South Korea's latest multipurpose satellite, Arirang 6, is facing a fresh delay due to setbacks in the development of a foreign co-passenger satellite that was scheduled to share a Vega-C rocket operated by European launch service provider Arianespace.
Arirang 6 had originally been slated for launch in the second half of this year, but the schedule is now expected to be pushed back to the second quarter of 2027, Oh said.
Meanwhile, preparations for the fifth launch of the homegrown Nuri space rocket are proceeding on schedule, he said.
"Assembly of the rocket's first, second and third stages are expected to be completed this week, with full vehicle integration set to begin next week," Oh said.
The official launch date will be determined at a launch management committee meeting in early August, with the launch currently expected to take place in September.
Source: Korea Times News
