S. Korea's next-generation satellite makes first contact with overseas ground station after launch

South Korea's indigenously developed Next-Generation Medium Satellite 4 launched Tuesday at 4:12 p.m. Korean Standard Time from Vandenberg Space Force Base in the United States and successfully made first contact with an overseas ground station.

According to the Korea AeroSpace Administration, the Rural Development Administration and the Korea Forest Service, the satellite separated from its launch vehicle at an altitude of approximately 888 kilometers about two hours and 30 minutes after liftoff, then established first contact with the Svalbard ground station in Norway at 7:05 p.m. — 23 minutes after separation.

The Korea AeroSpace Administration said communication with the ground station confirmed the satellite is in good condition and has successfully settled into sun-synchronous orbit.

Next-Generation Medium Satellite 4 is equipped with a wide observation swath of 120 kilometers and a resolution of 5 meters, enabling it to image the entire Korean Peninsula on a three-day cycle. The satellite is optimized for agricultural observation and forest monitoring on the peninsula, generating imagery data for both purposes.

The satellite carries particular significance as the first developed under private-sector leadership, drawing on the standard platform established during the development of Next-Generation Medium Satellites 1 and 2. By having industry lead every stage — from design and manufacturing through testing and verification — the project has raised the overall capability of South Korea's domestic satellite development sector.

Rural Development Administration chief Lee Seung-don said the successful launch marks "an important turning point for Korean agriculture, moving beyond experience and intuition toward data-driven precision farming," adding that it "opens an era of monitoring agriculture from the sky, underpinned by a national agricultural observation system."

Korea Forest Service chief Park Eun-sik said the satellite would allow authorities to "observe forests quickly and accurately, respond proactively to forest disasters such as wildfires and landslides, and realize scientific forest management in the face of the climate crisis."

Korea AeroSpace Administration chief Oh Tae-seok said the satellite "greatly strengthens private-sector satellite development competitiveness and the nation's capacity to utilize satellite data by independently securing imagery information needed for agriculture, forestry, climate and disaster response." He added that the agency would work to identify domestic and international satellite launch demand to further expand the use of Korean launch vehicles.