South Korea to launch 3rd military spy satellite in December

Seoul: South Korea plans to launch its third military reconnaissance satellite in December, the state arms procurement agency said on Wednesday, as part of efforts to bolster its surveillance capabilities on North Korea.

A SpaceX rocket carrying the satellite is scheduled to lift off in the third or fourth week of December, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said, adding it is working with the US company on the details of the launch.

The launch will take place as part of Seoul's plan to acquire five spy satellites by 2025 to better monitor North Korea with a space-based platform. South Korea has previously relied largely on satellite imagery provided by the United States. South Korea's first two spy satellites were launched aboard SpaceX rockets in December last year and April, respectively.

The first satellite is equipped with an electro-optical and infrared sensor to capture detailed images of the Earth's surface, while the second one has synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors capable of collecting data regardless of weather conditions.

Excluding the first satellite, all four others will be equipped with SAR sensors, Yonhap news agency reported.

Once all five spy satellites are launched and determined fit for operations, the military is expected to be able to monitor a certain target in North Korea every two hours.

South Korea plans to further bolster its surveillance capabilities by launching small reconnaissance satellites that weigh less than 500 kilograms and even smaller reconnaissance satellites weighing less than 100 kg aboard homegrown solid-fuel space rockets.

The launches for the small satellites are known to be scheduled between 2026 and 2028 and for the smaller satellites between 2028 and 2030.