This image provided by Hancom Group shows a 3D model of its Sejong-1 satellite.
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s first commercial Earth observation satellite has successfully entered into an orbit and communicated with its ground control station, Hancom InSpace Co. said Thursday.
The communications took place at 10:11 p.m. local time (11:11 a.m. in Korean time), about eight hours after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying Sejong-1, according to the South Korean aerospace tech company.
“Following the completion of communications, we’ve confirmed that Sejong-1 has successfully entered into its orbit,” the company said.
A livestream of the launch earlier in the day through SpaceX’s YouTube channel showed the rocket was soaring toward space.
Sejong-1 is set to orbit the Earth 12 to 14 times a day, completing an orbit every 90 minutes, according to Hancom InSpace Co.
The South Korean aerospace tech company said it has built the 10.8-kilogram satellite in cooperation with U.S. space data company Spire Global.
Hancom InSpace has said it plans to sell imagery and geospatial analytics services to Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries where there is high demand for such data for agricultural and other purposes.
The company plans to operate a total of five satellites by 2024, with a goal to develop and use its own proprietary payload from the launch of Sejong-4. It also plans to launch a low-orbit telecommunications satellite in 2025.
(Yonhap)
