South Korea's Next-Generation Medium Satellite 4 set for launch Tuesday

South Korea is set to launch its indigenously developed Earth-observation satellite, Next-Generation Medium Satellite 4.

The Korea AeroSpace Administration, the Rural Development Administration and the Korea Forest Service announced the satellite will lift off Tuesday at 4:10 p.m. Korean Standard Time from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The satellite has completed more than 30 days of pre-launch preparations at Vandenberg — including functional checks and fuel loading — and is now mounted on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, awaiting launch.

About two hours and 22 minutes after liftoff, the satellite will separate from the launch vehicle. Roughly 31 minutes later — approximately two hours and 53 minutes after launch — it is expected to make first contact with a ground station in Svalbard, Norway, confirming whether the satellite has successfully reached its target orbit.

Next-Generation Medium Satellite 4 weighs 514 kilograms and carries an optical payload capable of distinguishing objects as small as 5 meters in color imagery. It is intended for direct public use in areas such as crop growth analysis and forest fire monitoring.

The satellite is equipped with a wide-field observation camera developed using core domestic technologies, enabling it to photograph the entire country on a three-day cycle. It is expected to serve a range of applications, including agricultural and forest management, forest change monitoring, disaster response, climate change analysis and public safety enhancement.

After launch, the satellite will undergo an initial operations phase of about four months in orbit at approximately 888 kilometers altitude, with full mission operations scheduled to begin in the first half of next year.

Meanwhile, Next-Generation Medium Satellite 1, launched in 2021 and developed under the leadership of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, provides ultra-precise optical observation services for land management and disaster response. Next-Generation Medium Satellite 3, which rode the Nuri rocket into space last year, is tasked with verifying space science and technology. Next-Generation Medium Satellite 2, which successfully launched in May, will provide high-precision imagery for flood damage assessment, land management and disaster response.