KOMPSAT-3 (Korean Multi-purpose Satellite-3), also known as Arirang-3, is a South Korean multipurpose

Earth observation satellite An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...

. It was launched from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan at 16:39

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

on 17 May 2012. Like the earlier KOMPSAT-1 and

KOMPSAT-2 KOMPSAT-2 (Korean Multi-purpose Satellite-2), also known as Arirang-2, is a South Korean multipurpose Earth observation satellite. It was launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia at 07:45:43 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC (16:05:43 Korea Stan ...

satellites, it takes its name from the popular Korean folk song

Arirang ''Arirang'' ( ) is a Korean folk song. There are about 3,600 variations of 60 different versions of the song, all of which include a refrain similar to "arirang, arirang, arariyo" (""). It is estimated that the song is more than 600 years old ...

. Its launch was the culmination of a project begun in 1995. KOMPSAT-3 orbits at a height of , circling the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

14 times per day, and is expected to maintain that orbit for 4 years. It weighs . The satellite carries an Advanced Earth Imaging Sensor System (AEISS), which can distinguish to a 70-cm resolution, allowing the identification of individual vehicles on the ground. The satellite was succeeded by KOMPSAT-5 and KOMPSAT-3A, which were launched on 2013 and 2015 respectively.

History

South Korea started the KOMPSAT programme in 1995 to nurture its national Earth-imaging industry and supply services for remote-sensing applications. The South Korean KOMPSAT-3 Earth-imaging satellite was developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and

Korea Aerospace Research Institute The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI; ), established in 1989, is the aeronautics and space agency of South Korea. Its main laboratories are located in Daejeon, in the Daedeok Science Town. KARI's vision is to continue building upon in ...

(KARI), in partnership with

EADS Astrium Astrium was a European aerospace company and subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), headquartered in Paris. It designed, developed and manufactured civil and military space systems and provided related services ...

, to assure continuity with the KOMPSAT-2 satellite launched in 2006. KOMPSAT-3 was orbited on 17 May 2012 by a launch vehicle from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. SI Imaging Services is the worldwide exclusive distributor of KOMPSAT imagery since November 2012.

Technologies

Orbit

KOMPSAT-3 operates in a near-polar, circular

Sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

. The orbital parameters are: * Mean altitude: 685.1 km * Mass: 980 kg * Inclination: 98.13° (Sun-synchronous orbit) * Orbital period: 98.5 minutes * Orbital cycle: 28 days

Instruments

KOMPSAT-3's instruments are designed to acquire high- and very-high-resolution imagery with a footprint of 16.8 km. The satellite has the capacity to acquire 20 minutes of imagery on each orbit and it can steer its sensors both ways out to 30° off track. Panchromatic and multispectral images can be acquired at the same time. KOMPSAT-3 radiometer features:

Ground receiving stations

Two receiving stations deliver KOMPSAT-3 imagery 1 to 3 days after acquisition. The Deajeon station in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

is responsible for tasking the satellite.

Advantages and applications of KOMPSAT-3 imagery

KOMPSAT-3 is designed for very-high-resolution (VHR) remote-sensing applications, such as: * Land planning: to detect and identify features smaller than 1 square meter, e.g. vehicles, street furnishings, roads and bushes * Agriculture: to pinpoint crop or tree diseases * Urban planning and demographics: to locate detached houses * Civil engineering: to plan road, railroad and oil pipeline corridors * Defence: to describe high-value assets or military sites

South Korea

It serves along with the existing Kompsat-2 to provide continuous satellite observation of 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 ...

, sending images twice a day at 01:30 and 13:30.

References

External links

Reuters report

KARI

SI Imaging Services

Satrec Initiative

Spot Image
{{Orbital launches in 2012 Satellites orbiting Earth Satellites of South Korea Korea Aerospace Industries spacecraft Spacecraft launched in 2012 Korea Aerospace Research Institute