한국항공우주연구원

‘Chollian’ (COMS) Ready for Launch on June 24, 2010

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) (Minister: Ahn Byong-man) and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) (President: Lee Joo-jin), announced that the ‘Chollian’ satellite which was jointly developed by the Korea Communications Commission, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs and the Korea Meteorological Administration, is to be launched on June 24, Thursday (KST) from the French Guiana Space Center.

Since 2003, KARI, ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute), KORDI (Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute) and the National Institute of Meteorological Research have closely cooperated with the French company Astrium to complete the ‘Chollian’ satellite. South Korea’s first multi-mission geostationary satellite, ‘Chollian’, was transferred to the French Guiana Space Centre in Kourou on March 11, 2010. With all the necessary tests complete, preparations for the launch, such as the fueling of the satellite, have begun since May 24, 2010.

Chollian with ARABSAT 5A, which will share the ride into space, will undergo fueling and other launch activities such as assembling the upper part of the launch vehicle and the payload adapter which connects the satellites to the launch vehicle before lifting off between 7 and 8 pm on June 23 (between 7 and 8 am on June 24, 2010 KST).

South Korea’s COMS is a geostationary satellite which will provide communications, ocean-monitoring and weather forecasting services. It is designed to carry out communication services as well as meteorological and marine observation duties at 36,000 km above the Korean Peninsula around the clock at 128.2 degrees eastern longitude for the next 7 years.

First, after the domestically developed communications payload mounted on Chollian completes space certification, it is expected to be verified whether it can be used for practical uses such as satellite broadcast communications services and public communications services. In particular, as the tenth nation to develop its own communication satellite, Korea will be able to lay the foundation for the next generation satellite broadcast communication services such as 3DTV using Ka-band which is becoming all the more important these days.

Second, as the first ocean-monitoring geostationary satellite, Chollian will observe the marine environment such as sea waters around the Korean peninsula and provide fisheries information. This includes chlorophyll monitoring, in order to better support marine territory management including marine resources management and marine environment preservation.

Third, Korea will be the seventh country in the world to have its own meteorological satellite which enables meteorological observation on a real-time basis. So far, Korea has been receiving weather forecast information from foreign geostationary satellites every 30 minutes. However, thanks to this satellite, the interval is expected to be reduced to 15 minutes and up to 8 minutes for severe weather cases. Consequently, this will greatly contribute to the stability of the everyday life of people.

Geostationary satellites circle the Earth at the same speed as the Earths’ rotational period at 36,000 km above the equator, which makes the satellite appear motionless in the sky. Also, as the satellite can constantly observe a fixed area, it will fit its role as geostationary satellite for real-time meteorological and marine observation and communications.