Malligyong-1 () is a type of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

. The mission's first two launch attempts failed, with the third one succeeding on 21 November 2023. This was also the first successful flight of North Korea's new launch vehicle, the

Chollima-1 Chollima-1 () is a North Korean launch vehicle. It will be used by North Korea to launch satellites into orbit. The rocket is launched from a coastal launch platform in the Sohae Satellite Launching Station. The rocket has been developed to comp ...

Description

Malligyong-1 is North Korea's first spy satellite. It is in a

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 ...

at about altitude, and will provide a global optical imaging surveillance capability of several countries. The resolution of the imaging capability is not generally known, but according to

Daily NK ''Daily NK'' () is an online newspaper based in Seoul, South Korea, where it reports on various aspects of North Korean society from information obtained from inside and outside of North Korea via a network of informants. North Korea is ranked 17 ...

, Malligyong-1's imagery resolution is lower than the resolution of

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

's satellite imagery.

also stated that the satellite used a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese camera, but it was alleged to be not capable of providing meaningful military surveillance data.

History

First attempt

The first launch attempt occurred on 31 May 2023. The second stage of the launch vehicle,

, ignited too early into the mission, causing the mission to fail. Evacuation alerts were issued in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

and

Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west an ...

. The North Korean government quickly announced the launch failure. The remains crashed into the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...

and South Korea attempted to salvage the remainder of the rocket, searching a site off the coast of Eocheongdo. The South Korean

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

released an image of a white cylinder, suspected to be a part of the rocket. North Korea's National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) said it would investigate before conducting a second satellite launch. The White House, Japan, and the

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

condemned the launch, citing violations of Security Council resolutions prohibiting the use of ballistic missile technology.

Second attempt

A second launch attempt of the satellite took place on 23 August 2023, again onboard a Chollima-1 launch vehicle. The launch resulted again in a failure with the loss of the satellite, this time caused by an error in the emergency flight termination system during the third-stage flight.

Third attempt

A third launch attempt was initially scheduled to take place in October 2023 but was later moved to November due to some delays in fixing the technical issues that caused the previous failures. The launch took place on 21 November 2023. The South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted its counterpart in the North, the Korean Central News Agency, as saying the satellite had been successfully inserted in the predetermined orbit, resulting in the first successful flight of the Chollima-1 launch vehicle. However, no immediate independent observations could be made. The probe has been confirmed to be in orbit, however, its status is not known. According to NATA,

Kim Jong Un Kim Jong Un (born 8 January 1983 or 1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who has served as supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim ...

oversaw the launch.

Status

On 27 February 2024, South Korean Defense Minister, Shin Won-sik stated that there were no signs of Malligyong-1 being operational, as well as the possibility of a satellite launch by North Korea in March 2024. According to Dutch astronomer Marco Langbroek, between 18 and 24 February 2024, Malligyong-1 had made orbital raising maneuvers to prolong time in orbit and to circularize its orbit, this has demonstrated that satellite has on-board propulsion and is communicating with ground communication stations in North Korea. Commands for orbit raising maneuvers were transmitted from North Korea. Further orbital raising maneuvers were made from 3-7 June 2024, 6-10 September 2024 and 16-18 January 2025.

Fourth attempt

A fourth launch attempt of a new satellite, called Malligyong-1-1 (), took place on 27 May 2024, onboard an unnamed new launch vehicle using liquid-oxygen and petroleum propellants. The launch resulted again in a failure with the loss of the satellite.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2023 2023 controversies 2023 in North Korea Spacecraft launched in 2023 Satellite launch failures Space program of North Korea May 2023 in Asia Astronomical controversies Military controversies Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force