South Korea launches its own "spy satellite" into orbit

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a South Korean spy satellite was launched on Friday, December 1. The move is Seoul's response to the DPRK's launch of a "spy satellite" last month.

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to Bloomberg.

The Falcon 9 rocket, a SpaceX rocket carrying the first reconnaissance satellite produced by South Korea, launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 17:19 on Friday.

According to a representative of the South Korean defense procurement program, Seoul's satellite has a telescope with electro-optical sensors. The spacecraft is capable of identifying objects up to 30 centimeters in size with a resolution about 100 times better than that of the DPRK.

South Korea sees the deployment of its reconnaissance satellites as part of a security triad with the United States and Japan to launch preemptive strikes, shoot down missiles in flight, and launch its own strikes to disable North Korea's military and command capabilities.

Through a series of launches aimed at placing five reconnaissance satellites into orbit by 2025, Seoul is also seeking to strengthen its ability to collect intelligence on its own to become more independent of the United States in this regard.

The newly launched South Korean satellite is expected to be much more powerful than the North Korean probe, which is likely to have a rudimentary optical system that experts believe provides lower-resolution images than those from commercial satellites.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 02/12/2023