Chollian-2B, also known as GEO-KOMPSAT-2B (Geostationary Korea Multi Purpose Satellite-2B), is a

geostationary satellite A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

of South Korea, launched on February 18, 2020. It is a twin satellite of

Chollian-2A Chollian-2A, also known as GEO-KOMPSAT-2A (Geostationary Korea Multi Purpose Satellite-2A), is a weather satellite of South Korea, launched on December 4, 2018. It is a twin satellite with Chollian-2B. Development The ''Geostationary Composite ...

. It can precisely observe the movement of

Fine dust Particulate matter (PM) or particulates are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. An ''aerosol'' is a mixture of particulates and air, as opposed to the particulate matter alone, though it is sometimes defined ...

-causing substances in the atmosphere.

Development

and 2B were developed as follow-up satellites to

Chollian Chollian, () also known as Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite 1 (COMS-1), was a South Korean satellite which was launched on 26 June 2010 and began operations on 1 April 2011. It was operated by the Korea Aerospace Research Institu ...

, which was launched in 2010. They were developed over a period of nine years, starting in 2011, in cooperation with the

Ministry of Science and ICT The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT; ) is a ministry of the government of South Korea. It succeeded the former Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. "ICT" stands for "Information and Communication Technology". The headquarters was origi ...

, the

Ministry of Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

, and the

Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF; ), is a cabinet-level organization of the Government of the Republic of Korea. It takes overall responsibilities for maritime and fisheries sectors in general, ranging from the promotion of maritime saf ...

. 386.7 billion won was invested in the development of 2A, and 318 billion won was invested in the that of 2B. While Chollian, launched in 2010, carried a variety of payloads for meteorological, oceanographic, and communications purposes and played a variety of roles, Chollian-2A and Chollian-2B were designed to focus on their own unique missions: meteorological observation and environmental and oceanographic observation, respectively. Two large corporations and 36 small and medium-sized venture companies participated in the development of the 2B satellite. It is the world's first

for 24-hour atmospheric environment monitoring. It passed several tests to see if it could withstand the harsh space environment. In June 2019, it passed an acoustic test to see if it could withstand the noise of a launch vehicle, in July and August, it passed a thermal vacuum test, and in October, it passed an electromagnetic test.

Technology

The resolution of the ocean payload is four times higher than that of Chollian, and the number of types of information produced has also doubled from 13 to 26. The number of daily observations has also increased from 8 to 10. It is equipped with the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS), a precision atmospheric environment observation device, and the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GOCI-II), an ocean observation device. The environmental payload can observe about 20 types of air pollutants, including particulate matter,

nitrogen dioxide Nitrogen dioxide is a chemical compound with the formula . One of several nitrogen oxides, nitrogen dioxide is a reddish-brown gas. It is a paramagnetic, bent molecule with C2v point group symmetry. Industrially, is an intermediate in the s ...

sulfur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...

formaldehyde Formaldehyde ( , ) (systematic name methanal) is an organic compound with the chemical formula and structure , more precisely . The compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde. It is stored as ...

, and other particulate matter-causing substances in the atmosphere, as well as climate change-causing substances such as

ozone Ozone () (or trioxygen) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , break ...

and

aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be generated from natural or Human impact on the environment, human causes. The term ''aerosol'' co ...

. The ocean payload provides 26 types of information, including red tide, floating algae, sea fog, and sea ice occurring in Korean territorial waters. This is twice the 13 types of information from the first satellite. The resolution is , which is better than the of the Chollian, and the data transmission speed is 18 times faster.

Mission

It was launched on February 18, 2020 from the

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

on an

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationar ...

. It separated from the launch vehicle at 7:49 a.m., 31 minutes after launch. On March 6, after arriving at the target orbit, it entered a test run to optimize equipment performance. Since it is placed in a

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...

above the equator at 128.2 degrees east longitude and , it has the advantage of being able to monitor a specific area 24 hours a day. Its main mission is real-time monitoring of marine pollutants such as red tide, green tide, and oil spills, and monitoring and analyzing the movement of air pollutants. The government expects that by combining and analyzing the information sent by Chollian-2A, launched in 2018, with the observation information from Chollian-2B, the ability to forecast air pollution such as fine dust will greatly improve. The observation range of the satellite spans from

North Asia North Asia or Northern Asia () is the northern region of Asia, which is defined in geography, geographical terms and consists of three federal districts of Russia: Ural Federal District, Ural, Siberian Federal District, Siberian, and the Far E ...

, including Korea and Japan, to northern Indonesia and southern Mongolia. It measures the atmospheric conditions of Asian countries, including Korea, China, Japan, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Mongolia. In November 2020, the MSIT, the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries released visualized air quality data from Asia around the

Korean Peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

captured by the satellite.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2020 Spacecraft launched by Ariane rockets February 2020 2020 in South Korea Spacecraft launched in 2020 Weather satellites of South Korea

Development

Technology

Mission

See also

References