SpaceX launches South Korea’s first spy satellite – 12/01/2023 – Science

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying South Korea’s first spy satellite, launched Friday from Vandenberg Space Base in California, after North Korea successfully launched its own military reconnaissance satellite. last month.

The satellite was placed into orbit and just over an hour after launch “successfully established communication with a ground station,” South Korea’s Defense Ministry said.

SpaceX ended live streaming of the mission minutes after the rocket lifted off and then recovered its core stage booster, without showing the deployment of the South Korean payload.

In May, South Korea used its own Nuri launch vehicle to put a mission-capable satellite into orbit for the first time, but has contracted US company SpaceX to launch a total of five spy satellites by 2025 in an effort to accelerate its goal of having 24-hour surveillance over the Korean peninsula.

South Korea has relied on its U.S. allies for satellite information but is planning a series of military communications and reconnaissance satellites as part of a broader push into space.

After two previous attempts ended in rocket crashes this year, North Korea used its own Chollima-1 launch vehicle to lift the Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite into orbit.

Pyongyang has not yet released any images of that satellite and analysts say its full capabilities are unknown.

North Korean state media says the satellite has already photographed a range of “target regions”, from the White House and the Pentagon to US military bases in South Korea, Guam and Hawaii, and the South Korean capital, Seoul. .