South Korea launched its first nanosatellite

On April 24, the Korean Ministry of Science and Information Technology said that South Korea launched a nano satellite into Earth orbit. This is part of a national project to create a satellite constellation by 2027.

NEONSAT-1 was launched from Rocket Lab's spaceport in Mahia. (New Zealand). (Photo: UPI)

The satellite is named NEONSAT-1 , the first satellite of the NEONSAT project (short for New-space Earth Observation SATellite constellation for national safety, roughly translated: Earth observation satellite constellation in space). new for national safety).

The Korean Ministry of Science and Information Technology said that NEONSAT-1 was launched from Rocket Lab Company's spaceport in Mahia (New Zealand) at about 10:08 a.m. on April 24 (local time). which is about 3:38 a.m. on the same day (Seoul time).

This Earth observation satellite was launched into space at an altitude of 520km, about 50 minutes after the rocket was launched.

Developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) for mass production, NEONSAT-1 weighs less than 100kg and has a resolution of 1m.

It is the first of 11 nanosatellites planned to form a satellite constellation to monitor and image the Korean Peninsula and surrounding seas.

South Korea plans to launch five more nano-satellites into space in June 2026 and five more satellites in September 2027.