한국항공우주연구원

KOMPSAT-3(Korea Multi-purpose Satellite-3) was successfully launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on May 18, 2012 at 1:39 a.m.

KOMPSAT-3 communicated with the Antarctic Troll ground station and Svalbard ground station in Norway at 2:18 a.m. and 3:07 a.m., respectively, following successful separation from the rocket approximately 16 minutes after launch. First communications with the KARI ground station in Daejeon occurred on May 18, 2012 at 3:18 a.m. 1 hour and 40 minutes after the launch, at which time it was confirmed that the solar panels had successfully deployed and the satellite was operating normally.

KOMPSAT-3 will begin nominal operations after orbital adjustments to reach its final operating orbit and approximately 3 months of initial operations for in orbit satellite bus and payload functional tests.

KOMPSAT-3 is equipped with a 70cm-class high-resolution electro-optical camera which will be used to acquire high-resolution imagery from an 685km orbit for public safety, land resource management, and disaster monitoring purposes over the next four years.