KBS News

[앵커]

Hello everyone. It’s 9 o’clock on April 24th.

Today’s (24th) 9 o’clock news starts with news about space.

Korea’s first ultra-small constellation satellite was successfully launched.

A swarm satellite refers to a satellite where several microsatellites perform one mission as if they were one body, and the operation name was BTS, which means the beginning of the swarm.

The first news is reported by reporter Jisoo Shin.

[리포트]

[“4,3,2,1.”]

The rocket soars into the sky with a roar.

Loaded on the rocket was the first ultra-small cluster satellite made with our technology.

The lower part of the launch vehicle and the fairing were separated one by one, and the micro-swarm satellite was separated at an altitude of 500 km at around 8:22 am today, 50 minutes after launch.

[위성 발사업체 : “네온샛 원이(초소형 군집위성) 배치됐습니다. 카이스트 인공위성연구소, 쎄트렉아이, 한국항공우주연구원, 과기정통부 축하드립니다.”]

The satellite successfully communicated with the ground station at King Sejong Station in Antarctica twice this afternoon, announcing the successful launch.

Unit 1, which was successfully launched, is the advance team for a constellation of 11 satellites.

The English name of the operation was ‘BTS’, meaning the beginning of a swarm.

Cluster satellites have lower development costs than expensive, high-performance large satellites, and multiple ultra-small satellites weighing less than 100 kg are operated and can observe the Korean Peninsula more than three times a day.

The optical camera attached to the satellite can identify objects up to 4 meters in size from 500 kilometers in the air.

Starting with the first satellite launched today, the government plans to manufacture and send 10 more satellites into space by 2027.

This is Shin Ji-soo of KBS News.