SEOUL: South Korea was set to launch its first commercial-grade satellite Wednesday as rival North Korea pushed plans forward to place its first military spy satellite into orbit.
\nThe South Korean satellite will be launched by a domestically made rocket under the country\u2019s space development program. Seoul officials say its launch has no military purpose, but many experts say it will eventually help South Korea acquire technologies and knowhow required to operate military surveillance satellites and build more powerful missiles.
\nThe Nuri space launch vehicle was scheduled to lift off early Wednesday evening from a launch facility on a southern South Korean island, if no unexpected weather or other problems occur at the last minute, according to the Science Ministry.
\nAboard the rocket are the main satellite, called \u201cNext Generation Small Satellite 2,\u201d and seven other smaller, cube-shaped satellites. The main one is tasked with verifying imaging radar technology and observing cosmic radiation in near-Earth orbit, a ministry statement said.
\nWednesday\u2019s launch is the third of its kind involving Nuri, South Korea\u2019s first homegrown rocket.
\nIn its first launch in 2021, the rocket\u2019s dummy payload reached the desired altitude but failed to enter orbit. In its second attempt last year, South Korea successfully put what it called a \u201cperformance verification satellite\u201d into orbit in a launch mainly designed to examine the Nuri rocket. South Korea became the world\u2019s 10th nation to send a satellite into space with its own technology.
\nThe latest launch comes amid heightened military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
\nSince the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles \u2014 some of them nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike South Korea and the US \u2014 in what it called efforts to respond to the expansion of military drills between the United States and South Korea. Analysts say the North\u2019s testing spree was likely meant to pressure its rivals to scale back their military training and relax economic sanctions on the North.
\nOn May 16, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reviewed a finished military spy satellite at the country\u2019s aerospace center and approved an unspecified future action plan on its launch.
\nDuring the visit, Kim cited the strategic significance of a spy satellite while vowing to bolster the country\u2019s defense as \u201cUS imperialists and (South) Korean puppet villains escalate their confrontational moves,\u201d according to state media.
\nSome experts say the North Korean spy satellite disclosed in its state media doesn\u2019t appear to be sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution imagery that can meaningfully boost the country\u2019s surveillance capacities.
\nBut Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea\u2019s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said the North Korean satellite is still likely be capable of monitoring the deployment of incoming US strategic assets like an aircraft carrier and the movements of South Korean warships and fighter jets.
\n\u201cIt would be much better to have such a satellite than not having one,\u201d Lee said.
\nAfter its first spy satellite launch, Lee predicted North Korea will try to send several more satellites into space, likely more advanced ones. \u201cWith three to five satellites, North Korea can have an almost real-time monitoring on the Korean Peninsula,\u201d he said.
\nLee said the North\u2019s first spy satellite launch could happen in June. Other experts say the launch will more likely happen in the latter half of this year.
\nJung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said the recent North Korean push for a spy satellite launch suggests it cares greatly about the South Korean satellite launch program.
\nUnlike South Korean and other countries\u2019 satellite launches, North Korea\u2019s satellite liftoff would be a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, which ban the country from engaging in any form of ballistic launches. The UN viewed the North\u2019s past launches of Earth observation satellites as a disguised test of its long-range missile technology because ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles often share similar bodies, engines and other components.
\nSouth Korea currently has no military reconnaissance satellites of its own and depends on US spy satellites to monitor strategic facilities in North Korea. South Korea seeks to launch its own surveillance satellites soon.
\nJung said while the South Korean satellite to be launched Wednesday wasn\u2019t primarily developed for military purposes, its launch will still give it technologies related to the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and military spy satellites.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of how we (publicly) describe a launch. There is no reason to provoke our neighbors unnecessarily,\u201d Jung said.
\nSouth Korea already has missiles that place all of North Korea within striking distance. But Jung said South Korea needs longer-range missiles to prepare for future security threats that can be posed by potential adversaries like China and Russia.
\nLee said the use of the Nuri rocket as a missile isn\u2019t militarily meaningful as it uses a type of liquid fuel that requires much longer fueling time than solid fuel.
\nBut he said there is \u201cenough possibility\u201d that the launch will support South Korea\u2019s efforts to build a space-based surveillance system, as its commercial-grade satellite is to be placed on a sun-synchronous orbit, which is typically used by reconnaissance satellites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL: South Korea was set to launch its first commercial-grade satellite Wednesday as rival North Korea pushed plans forward to place its first military spy satellite into orbit. The South Korean satellite will be launched by a domestically made rocket under the country\u2019s space development program. Seoul officials say its launch has no military purpose, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-333191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n