As prime contractor in charge of Korea's satellite programs, KARI is pursuing an ambitious space plan: following the KITSAT
series of microsatellites (1 to 4) and the KOMPSAT-1 and KOMPSAT-2 Earth observation satellites, it is now pursuing its programme
with the development of KOMPSAT-3 and KOMPSAT-5, as well as COMS-1, a communications, meteorology and oceanography satellite. KARI
has plans for 10 more satellites in the pipeline for the coming decade.
The KOMPSAT program was initiated in 1995 as a major space investment in Korea. Its objective is the development of a national
space segment in Earth observation along with an efficient infrastructure and ground segment to provide valuable services to remote
sensing users in various fields of applications. KARI has been developing Korea Multi-purpose Satellite (KOMPSAT), a small 500-kg
Earth observation satellite with an orbital altitude of 685 km, jointly with TRW Inc. of the United States of America. KOMPSAT is
expected to help raise the country's space technology level to make it one of the world's top 10 nations by the year 2010. The KOMPSAT
payloads include a high-resolution electro-optical camera, an ocean observation camera, an ionosphere measurement sensor and a
high-energy particle detector.
In addition to securing technologies to build satellites, Korea has been making efforts to build the operational capability for
satellite systems. The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute is responsible for the development of ground control
stations for KOMPSAT, based on the Institute's accumulated experience in development, tracking, controlling and operating satellite
systems for KOREASAT-1 and -2. A ground station for KOMPSAT is in final preparation for operation at KARI. The ground station facilities
include S-band and X-band antennae, data-storage and -processing equipment, satellite operation software, mission analysis and
planning software, and a satellite simulator.
KOMPSat 1:
KOMPSAT, the Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite, was the first spacecraft development project for the South Korean Aerospace Research
Institute (KARI). The spacecraft is based on TRW Eagle class of lightweight, modular spacecraft. It has 3-axis stabilisation with
dual solar rays. The payload included a CCD imaging system, a low-resolution camera for Earth Observation, a device to measure the
Earth's ionospheric and magnetic fields and a high-energy particle detector. KOMPSAT-1 is a high resolution optical mission of
Korea launched in 1999. Through a 3rd party mission agreement ESA will make a sample dataset of European cities available from
this satellite.
KOMPSat 2 Arirang-2:
The Multi-Purpose Satellite Arirang 2 was launched on July 28, 2006 and is orbiting the Earth 14 times a day at an altitude of
685km. It is capable of taking photostatic images with 1m panchromatic resolution and 4m multi-spectral resolution. Images taken
by Arirang 2 were distributed from June 1 overseas through the overseas sales agency SPOT Image of France.
The satellite travels along its 685 km Sun-synchronous circular orbit at a inclination of 98.14?, passing the ascending node at
10.50 a.m. To acquire satellite design technologies, 25 technical staff of KARI have joined the some 125-member TRW design team.
Seven Korean industrial enterprises have also dispatched some 30 engineers for the same programme. The participating Korean industries
are responsible for the Koreanization of satellite components. KARI has mobilized some 50 researchers in the Republic of Korea to
study satellite design data at TRW and to learn about satellite systems and components.
This mission involves Electro-Optics Industries Ltd. (El-Op) of Rehovot, Israel, and the Korean Aerospace Research Institute
(KARI), part of South Korea's Ministry of Science and Technology. El-Op supplied the camera for KOMPSAT-2. The camera takes
black-and-white images with 1-meter spatial resolution and four-channel color pictures with 4-meter resolution. KARI intends to
build the spacecraft platform, although the institute was seeking outside consultancy services for the effort. The mission of the
KOMPSAT program is to provide Earth resources research and surveys of natural resources, conduct surveillance of large-scale
disasters and mitigation efforts, collect high-resolution images for South Korea's Geographical Information System and provide
printed and digitized maps The high-resolution optical payload, a panchromatic electro-optical camera, has a ground resolution of
6.6 metres. It will be used mainly to collect geological data for cartography missions and more efficient land use. The ocean
observation payload is a wide-band camera, which can obtain data from six spectral bands. The payload has 1 km resolution, with
the swath of 800 km, which can be used to observe and examine the world's ocean resources and pollution or atmospheric pollution
and sandy dust phenomena. The ionosphere measurement sensor and the high-energy particle detector, comprising the scientific
instruments, are expected to provide data on the temperature and density of electrons in the ionosphere and on the distribution of
high-energy particles in space. The payloads provide data on the scientific experiments, including the effects of space radiation
on satellite sub-units.
KARI developed the KOMPSAT-2 program in close collaboration with EADS Astrium, in particular to acquire VHR imagery for South
Korea's needs in mapping, urban planning and hazard management. KOMPSAT-2 is a VHR optical imaging satellite (1-m resolution in
black and white, 4 m in colour) capable of acquiring up to 7,500 images with a ground footprint of 15 km x 15 km every day-equivalent
to 1.7 million km? a day. These features and imaging capacity, ideal for detecting and identifying ground features, make KOMPSAT-2
a key asset for mapping at scales of 1:5 000 to 1:2 000.
High-resolution images taken by Arirang 2 are available through an internet search system. The images can be purchased directly
online. Korea's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) announced that satellite images taken by Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite
Arirang 2 would be distributed in Korea from December 14, 2007.
The images are distributed for various purposes: nonprofit; public study; commercial use, etc. In case of public study, KARI
will distribute the images with free-of-charge shipping. In cases of commercial use and other uses, KAI, acting as the sales agency
of Arirang 2 images in Korea, will distribute them at the commercial price.
In order to accelerate the use of satellite images and stimulate related industries in Korea, the commercial distribution price
will be set at 1/5 the price of foreign satellite images, and in certain cases, the final price will be set at 1/20. The distribution
price of satellite images can vary according to a number of conditions such as form (photostatic image, new photographing).
The satellite image distribution procedure is as follows: Check existing data (photostatic images) on the internet search system
(www.spacecapture.kr), register as a user, and make applications to KARI or Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). When making requests
for new photographing, it could take some time to respond since national demand will have precedence over individual requests.
KOMPSat-3:
KOMPSAT-3 with high-resolution optical sensor had an initially scheduled launch date of 2008, later slipped to 2009. Initially
the. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) received an order from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to launch the
Korea Multipurpose Satellite-3 (KOMPSAT-3). The transaction, which Mr. Hideaki Omiya, President of MHI, signed the agreement in
Korea on January12, represents the first satellite launch services order placed to MHI by an overseas customer. The launch is
slated to take place in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012.
The KOMPSAT-3 mission objective is to provide satellite earth observation continuing from the KOMPSAT-1 and KOMPSAT-2 systems.
KOMPSAT-3 is capable of higher image resolution than KOMPSAT-1 and -2 and can provide high-resolution electro-optical (EO) images
required for geographical information systems (GIS) and other environmental, agricultural and oceanographic monitoring applications.
It will operate from a sun-synchronous orbit. KOMPSAT-3, which measures 2 meters in diameter and 3.5 meters in height, will be
transported by ship from Korea to Tanegashima in Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture for launching by MHI's H-IIA launch vehicle at the
Tanegashima Space Center of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Simultaneously launched by the same launch vehicle will
be JAXA's GCOM-W (Global Change Observation Mission - Water), which is to undertake water-related observation from the sun-synchronous
orbit.
KOMPSat-4:
There is no KOMPSAT-4 Program. The Sino-Korean word for the number four, "sa" is a homonym of the Chinese character for death.
KOMPSat-5:
KOMPSAT-5, with an active sensor of Synthetic Aperture Radar, had a launch scheduleed for 2008. In March 2006 Alcatel Alenia
Space signed a contract with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the Republic of South Korea Space Agency, to provide a
SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) payload system for KOMPSAT-5. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been used for mapping the surface
geomorphology of cloudy planets like Venus as well as the Earth. The cloud-free Mars is also going to be scanned by SAR in order
to detect buried water channels and other features under the very shallow subsurface of the ground. According to the 'Mid and
Long-term National Space Development Plan' of Korea, SAR satellites, in addition to the EO (Electro-Optical) satellites, are
supposed to be developed in the frame of the KOMPSAT (Korean Multi-Purpose Satellite) program. Feasibility of utilizing a SAR
payload on KOMPSAT platform has been studied by KARI in collaboration with Astrium U.K. The purpose of the SAR program is Scientific
and Civil applications on the Earth.
KOMPSat-6:
KOMPSat-7:
Korea is going to develop SAR satellites. According to the 'Mid and Long-term National Space Development Plan' (MOST 2000) of
Korea, two SAR satellites are supposed to be developed among the eight KOMPSAT (Korean Multi-Purpose Satellite) satellites. They
are KOMPSAT-5 in 2010 of launching year and KOMPSAT-7 in 2014.