KAIST's NEONSAT constellation to launch aboard Nuri rocket, enabling 3 daily passes over Korean Peninsula

Five KAIST-developed microsatellites from the NEONSAT constellation are set to ride South Korea's homegrown Nuri rocket into orbit. Once a full fleet of 10 satellites is in place by next year, the network is expected to begin full operation as a "Korean space surveillance system" capable of imaging the Korean Peninsula more than three times a day.

KAIST said NEONSAT units 2 through 6 will serve as the primary payload on the fifth Nuri launch, scheduled for Wednesday at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province.

NEONSAT is an Earth-observation satellite weighing under 100 kilograms. It is designed to capture black-and-white imagery at a resolution of about 1 meter and color imagery at 4 meters.

The key to this launch, KAIST said, lies not in the performance of any single satellite but in operating multiple satellites simultaneously as a constellation.

KAIST plans to launch five additional units — NEONSAT 7 through 11 — on the sixth Nuri flight, scheduled for 2027. With all 10 mass-production satellites in orbit, the constellation will be able to image the Korean Peninsula more than three times a day. The program also aims to re-image the same location within 24 hours whenever an emergency such as a natural disaster occurs.

The project marks South Korea's first development program for practical, mass-production constellation satellites. KAIST's Satellite Technology Research Center oversaw the entire development effort, including the satellite systems, and established analytical methods and management procedures for developing, verifying and operating multiple satellites to a uniform standard.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute handled development of the ground systems for constellation operations as well as satellite imagery calibration and application systems. Satrec Initiative participated in developing the satellite bus and high-resolution optical cameras. The project brings together South Korean industry, academia and research institutions under the support of the Korea AeroSpace Administration.

One detail drawing attention is the mission name KAIST assigned to each phase of the constellation's development: "BTS."

The prototype phase is called "Beginning of The Swarm," and the verification phase "Bridging of The Swarm." The first batch of mass-production satellites launching Wednesday carries the name "Beholding of The Swarm," while the second batch due next year will be called "Beyond The Swarm."

The names reflect the program's evolution from developing a single satellite to actually building and operating a full constellation.

"The heart of this project is not just building one satellite, but establishing a system to manufacture and verify multiple satellites to the same standard and operate them together in orbit," said Han Jae-heung, director of KAIST's Space Research Institute. "After launch, we will carefully check the condition of each satellite and the quality of the imagery to ensure the constellation observation proceeds as planned."

KAIST President Bae Choong-sik said the project represents "an important milestone in expanding KAIST's long-accumulated small satellite development capabilities into a constellation system that manufactures and operates multiple satellites together," adding that he hopes it will "translate into real value that contributes to people's lives in areas such as disaster response and public safety."