The Korean launch vehicle Nuri (KSLV-II) took flight into space during its fourth launch in the early hours of the 27th from the Naro Space Center in Goheung County, South Jeolla Province. Nuri, carrying a total of 13 satellites, including the next-generation medium-sized satellite 3 and 12 CubeSats, aims to fulfill various missions ranging from aurora and space environment observation to space bio-experiments like anti-cancer research.
(Seoul=News1) Reporter Na Yeon-jun reported that of the 12 secondary payload satellites aboard the Nuri rocket headed to space, 9 have successfully established communication. The remaining 3 satellites, which have yet to establish first contact, will continue attempts to communicate.
The Ministry of Aerospace and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced the communication results of the 12 secondary payload satellites launched aboard Nuri on the 27th of the previous month on the 2nd.
On the day of the launch, communication was confirmed with five satellites, including ETRISat (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute), ZAC-003/004 (CosmoWorks, twin satellites), Inha-ROSAT (Inha University), and K-HERO (KAIST).
Further, successful initial communication on the 28th was achieved with SPIRONE (Sejong University), COSMIC (UjuroTech), and Sejong 4 (Hancom InSpace). On the 29th, SNUGLITE-III (Seoul National University) successfully achieved both initial and bidirectional communication and conducted function checks.
Currently, the three satellites yet to achieve initial communication are EEE Tester-1 (Korea Aerospace Research Institute), PERSAT (Quaterninion), and BEE-1000 (SpaceLinTech). These satellites will continuously attempt communication using precise orbital data from the United States Combined Space Operations Center.
The secondary payload satellites, through initial communication, check for survivability and basic soundness. After verifying that all systems are operating normally through ongoing communication, their official missions will commence.
Park Jae-sung, Director of Space Transportation at the Ministry of Aerospace, commented, “CubeSats are at the forefront of rapidly advancing space technology, learning from both failures and successes. We will make our best efforts to continue providing various and stable transportation opportunities to ensure that creative ideas from the private sector can reach space.”