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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has signed a contract with SpaceX to launch 5 spy satellites by 2025, with the primary launch on a Falcon 9 rocket by the tip of 2023.
A spokeswoman for the Protection Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) confirmed the deal April 11, saying the 2023 launch would ship an 800-kilogram electro-optical infrared satellite tv for pc to low Earth orbit.
“The deal was made to launch 5 satellites concerned within the ‘425 undertaking,’” DAPA spokeswoman Park Geun-young instructed SpaceNews, referring to a space-based reconnaissance undertaking the protection ministry launched in 2018 for nearer monitoring of North Korea’s navy actions. Below the undertaking, 5 satellites — 4 artificial aperture radar (SAR) satellites and one that includes an electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) telescope — will probably be launched to low Earth orbit between 600 and 700 km by 2025, enabling South Korea’s navy to watch the nuclear-armed neighbor’s key navy amenities each two hours with 30-50 centimeters decision imagery, in response to a 2019 report produced by the Korea Institute of S&T Analysis and Planning. The spokeswoman declined to share the phrases and situations of the deal, in addition to launch schedules for the opposite 4 satellites.
The Company for Protection Improvement (ADD) and Korea Aerospace Analysis Institute (KARI) have led the $970 million undertaking as major contractors. Below the technical help from Europe’s Thales Alenia House, ADD has labored with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Hanwha Programs to develop the 4 SAR satellites. KARI has developed the EO/IR satellite tv for pc.
It’s the second time South Korea has employed SpaceX to hold out a space-based navy mission. Within the first undertaking, carried out in July 2020, a SpaceX Falcon 9 put South Korea’s first navy communications satellite tv for pc, code-named Anasis-2, into geostationary Earth orbit. The Anasis-2 satellite tv for pc was manufactured in France by Airbus Defence and House as a part of an offset obligation associated to a $7 billion sale of U.S. F-35 fighter jets to South Korea in 2014. Below the phrases of the deal, F-35 producer Lockheed Martin agreed to acquire a telecommunications satellite tv for pc for South Korea.
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