KITSAT-2 ( a.k.a. ''"Uribyol 2", "KITSAT-OSCAR 25", "KO-25" and "KITSAT-B"'') was a South Korean experimental

Earth observation Earth observation (EO) is the gathering of information about the physical, chemical, and biosphere, biological systems of the planet Earth. It can be performed via remote sensing, remote-sensing technologies (Earth observation satellites) or throu ...

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain Sequence motif, DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organ ...

. KITSAT-2 was South Korea's second satellite and was the first to be developed and manufactured domestically by the

Korea Advanced Institute of Science KAIST (originally the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) is a national university, national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the ...

(KAIST).

Launch

The satellite was launched into

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

on 26 September 1993, at 01:45

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 the 59th flight of the Ariane-40 H10

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

. The launch took place in the

Centre Spatial Guyanais 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 ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. KITSAT-2 was a South Korean

that was launched along with

SPOT-3 SPOT (, lit. "Satellite for observation of Earth") is a commercial high-resolution optical Earth observation satellite system operating from space. It is run by Spot Image, based in Toulouse, France. It was initiated by the CNES (''Centre na ...

. Its mission was very similar to

PoSAT-1 PoSAT-1 (OSAT-OSCAR 28, OSCAR 28, PO 28, 1993-061G), the first Portugal, Portuguese satellite, was launched into orbit on 26 September 1993, on the 59th flight of the Ariane 4, Ariane 4 launch vehicle. The launch took place in the Guiana Space C ...

(1993-061D).

Mission

The satellite's mission was to improve and enhance the

KITSAT-1 KITSAT-1 or KITSAT-A (Korean Institute of Technology Satellite) is the first South Korean satellite to be launched. Once launched, the satellite was given the nickname "Our Star" ( 우리별). KITSAT-1 operated in a by low Earth orbit (LEO). ...

systems, use domestically manufactured components, demonstrate experimental modules and to promote domestic space industry.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1993 Satellites orbiting Earth Satellites of South Korea Spacecraft launched in 1993 Amateur radio satellites KAIST

Launch

Mission

See also

References