The South Korean military is planning to launch a reconnaissance satellite that can detect North Korean missile provocations at a glance in cooperation with Elon Musk's SpaceX company.

According to statements made in April by officials from the Ministry of National Defense and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the military plans to place five military reconnaissance satellites in Earth’s orbit at an altitude of 500 km by 2027, with the first launch planned for the end of next year.

The military authorities expect this reconnaissance satellite to serve as an “eye” for early detection of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles.

Currently, the South Korean military is monitoring North Korea through EO/IR and SAR sensors mounted on the multi-purpose satellite Arirang 5.

But the number of times the satellite passes over the Korean Peninsula is small, so it is hard to detect North Korean mobile missile launchers or nuclear or missile threats in real time.

Consequently, Korea had to depend on the US surveillance and reconnaissance assets, which was disadvantageous as they were not military-only satellites.

Discussion about the South Korean military's reconnaissance satellite project began in response to the need to secure an independent reconnaissance satellite after North Korea's third nuclear test in 2013.

A budget of 1.2 trillion won (10 billion $) was invested in the development of four onboard reconnaissance satellites and one reconnaissance satellite with EO/IR (Electro-optic/Infrared) sensors.

Until now, satellite surveillance and reconnaissance of North Korean missiles has mainly been done through satellites owned by the US military.

The US’ SAR satellite has a resolution of about 50 cm, and as it acquires images using radar reflection waves, it can acquire images during the day as well as at night, and has the advantage of being able to detect even in bad weather conditions.

EO/IR satellites have an accuracy of less than 30cm, so they have better resolution than SAR satellites.

IR satellites also observe the infrared region to image the heat from objects.

If dozens of micro-satellite projects equipped with micro-SAR sensors, which will be promoted from the end of this year, are successfully completed, the South Korean military's reconnaissance capability is expected to grow one step further.

According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration in April, the first of the five satellites planned by the military will be launched next year by SpaceX, and it seems likely that the other 4 will also be launched via SpaceX.

The Space X's Falcon 9 was confirmed as a reconnaissance satellite-mounted rocket primarily for its stability.

The Falcon 9 has already successfully completed dozens of launches.

Thus, for launching the military communications satellite 'ANASIS 2' in 2020, the South Korean military chose the liquid fuel-based SpaceX Falcon 9.

South Korea still lacks the projectile technology to stably launch medium and large satellites into Earth's orbit.

South Korea’s launch of its first liquid fuel-based Korean launch vehicle ‘Nuri’ in October last year was only half successful.

However, if the words of Dr. Hong of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), who said that the development of the Korean launch vehicle ‘Nuri’ is expected to be completed stably by 2025, come true, one can expect an independent Korean satellite rocket launch will be possible soon.

SeokJun Kim

Grade 10
Woodberry Forest School