By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff reporter
South Korea announced the successful launch of its first geostationary satellite, Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite-1 (COMS-1), which is designed to monitor the atmosphere and ocean as well as provide communications.
Aside from its contribution to disaster management and technology, Korean officials also hope that COMS-1 will help ease one of the biggest frustrations in daily Korean life - the hit-or-miss weather reports.
The multipurpose satellite, nicknamed the Chollian, was part of the payload of a European Ariane-5 rocket launched from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana at 6:41 a.m. (KST) Sunday. The take-off was originally scheduled for Thursday, but was delayed for three consecutive days due to minor technical problems.
According to Korea's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, COMS-1 beamed a signal back to the Dongara Ground Station in Australia at around 7:19 a.m. to confirm its successful delivery to a geostationary transfer orbit.
The satellite is programmed to make additional contact with ground stations in Hawaii, Italy and Chile before communicating with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the Korean space agency, next week.
The 355 billion won (about $295 million) COMS-1 is Korea's 12th satellite fired into space, although only four of those previously launched are currently in operation.
The new satellite, which will have a lifespan of seven years, is geared to provide more sophisticated observations of the atmosphere and ocean, such as the measuring of the movement of tides, changes in sea temperatures and other environmental indicators.
Korean officials also hope that the COMS-1 will enhance the accuracy of local weather forecasts. The satellite is programmed to send weather and oceanographic data every 15 minutes, with the gap reduced to eight to 10 minutes in urgent situations such as when a typhoon is approaching the country.
Currently, Korea's meteorological authorities rely on information provided by Japanese and American satellites, which provide updates every 30 minutes.
"COMS-1 will provide visible improvements in the lives of people here," said KARI President Lee Joo-jin in an earlier interview with The Korea Times.
The successful launching of the COMS-1 came as a relief to Koreans, who have suffered repetitive blows to the national ambition of becoming a regional space power.
The country's efforts to deliver a home-launched satellite into space were derailed again earlier this month when the part-Russian, part-Korean Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1 (KSLV-1) exploded just two minutes after its launch at the Naro Space Center in South Jeolla Province.
In its first launch in August last year, a KSLV-1 achieved the desired speed and height, but failed to properly unload its satellite into orbit.
"The failure of the KSVL-1 was a letdown, but the successful launch of the Chollian helps to ease the pain to some degree," said Kim Young-shik, deputy minister of science and technology, in an e-mailed statement.
"Chollian certainly raises the country's space profile and will also result in visible benefits in the daily lives of Koreans."
The COMS-1 was a product of collaboration between France's EADS Astrium and Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) and KARI.
The launching of the COMS-1 makes Korea the seventh country or partnership in the world to operate its own weather satellite after the United States, the European Union, Japan, China, India and Russia.
Korea has been attempting to reintroduce itself as a serious player in the Asian space race that is currently led by China, Japan and India. Korean ambitions include developing a completely-indigenous rocket by around 2018 for launching satellites and having a moon-orbiting spacecraft by 2020.
Korea has another crucial launch ahead this year involving the Korean Multi-purpose Satellite-5 (KOMPSAT-5), which is expected to be launched from Kazakhstan by the end of the year. The satellite will be Korea's first to be equipped with SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) capability and is expected to fulfill the demand for SAR image information, which differs from optical image data provided by remote sensing satellites.