Team KOREA
Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)
2022
Oct 2022
Hello girls,
I have been very happy to organize the first edition of SHE SPACE KOREA this year and to
welcome you all to our first-year program. The beginning of She Space Korea goes back to July
2019, when Prof. Shimrit Maman visited Korea as lecturer in the KARI International Space
Training Program. She introduced the SHE-SPACE initiative in Israel and suggested us to join. I
was very interested but it seemed to be a “mission impossible” with high school students in Korea
because you are very busy to prepare for the college entrance exam and an out-of-school program
is something, only very motivated students would consider.
With great efforts of KARI colleagues, Ms. Soyoung Chung, Mr. Jeong-Won Lee, and Ms. Seok-
Hee Lim, SHE SPACE KOREA was able to be set up as an official education program funded by
the Ministry of Science and ICT. Also, we received great support by Dr. Yeji Choi and Dr. Eunbin
Kim from SI Analytics (private company specialized in AI for earth observation), who joined us
cheerfully. After all these preparations, we were delighted to have you participate in the program.
Due to the far distance between two schools and different school schedule, we couldn’t have in-
person meeting all together but mixed programs with common orientation as well as lectures on-
line and individual team research projects off-line. Fortunately, we could have a Korea-Israel camp
this year. I realized that you were all pleased to have the opportunity to make new friends and
communicate with each other. Something which should be normal for young people but was
limited for the last two and half years due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
I sincerely hope you had a great experience and keep fond memories of our SHE SPACE program.
Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors.
Best regards,
Dr. (Catharina) Hyun-Ok Kim
Team Leaders
(Catharina) Hyun-Ok Kim
Hi, my christian name is Catharina. I majored in geo-information
and remote sensing focusing on urban ecology and environmental
planning and received Ph.D. degree in engineering from Berlin
University of Technology (TU Berlin), Germany in 2007. After
finishing postdoctoral work at TU Berlin I joined the Korea
Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) in 2010. I worked as Program
Board member of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) in 2016
and have been participating as executive secretariat member in the
International Charter on Space and Major Disasters since 2014. My
current main research project is to develop the earth observation
application system using constellation of small satellites in the
scope of South Korea’s national space program. I’m also motivated to extend the role of women
scientists in the society, so that I act as a board member of KARI’s women advisory committee
and as a board member of the Association of the Korea Woman Scientists and Engineers (KWSE).
Yeji Choi
My name is Yeji Choi and I am a research scientist at AI research
center in SI Analytics. My research interests are weather and
climate observations from space. I graduated from Yonsei
University in Seoul, Korea and majored in atmospheric science. I
was glad to be a tutor for this project and I really enjoyed teaching
remote sensing to Daejeon Science High School students. It was a
great opportunity for me to meet the next generation who will lead
the future of Korean science. They were great students and I hope
this project helped them expand their knowledge of climate
change and satellite observations.
Eunbin Kim
Hi, I am Eunbin Kim, and I am a research scientist at SI Anylytics.
I majored in astronomy and currently doing a research in climate
change using carbon observation satellite data. While doing
research, I thought it would be good to share this knowledge and
experience. Finally, I was so happy to be able to participate in
Shespace and share the climate change issues with women. I
believe that what you learned and experinced in this project will be
a good foundation for bringing awareness of climate change and
improving the condition of our planet for the future generation.
Staff
Soyoung Chung
Hi, my name is Soyoung. I am a senior researcher at KARI. I have
academic background in Space Engineering and Science &
Technology Policy. At KARI, I have been working as a specialist
in space policy and research strategy. I am a member of KARI’s
Space Education Committee and International Cooperation
Committee. I am also a member of KARI Women's Association.
As an advocate of international cooperation and women’s
participation in the space sector, I became a fan of She Space.
Being part of the team this year was both exciting and rewarding.
(Sonya) SeokHee Lim
Hi, everyone. I am Sonya SeokHee Lim, a principal researcher from
KARI. I have studied in Chemical Eng. at Inha University and
graduated from Moscow State Technical University named after
Bauman in Liquid Rocket Engine Faculty. I have made the Launch
Vehicle such as Naro and Nuri which was successfully launched this
year. And I am interested in not only rocket but also the beyond it. I
have over than 20 years of teaching Space technology including space
launch and space ecosystem and sharing my experience. I am a
member of Space Education Committee in KARI and a secretory of
KARI Women’s Association. I love to meet the next generation who
has passion and do their best to find their ability in space sector. So I
joined the She Space International 2022 in Korea as a facilitator and could find why I should keep
making space transportations well as a provider in space ecosystem for my future customer!. It
was great honor for me to participate in SheSpace program, to think many kinds of diverse issues
to solve in my life and to meet the shining future potential colleagues in advanced.
Jeong Won Lee
Hi, I am a principal administrator at KARI Academy. I am also
the project manager for She Space Korea. I studied Business
management at Chungbuk National University and received
Masters in Intellectual Property Law at Pai-Chai University. I
joined KARI in 1996 and devoted the last ten years of my career
in space education and outreach for students and general public.
From 2013 to 2019, I operated Space Science Museum at NARO
Space Center as a manager and developed many space education
and outreach programs for the students.
Participant Girls
From Goyang Global High School
Hi, I'm Yoonseo Jeong. I am from Goyang Global High School and this
is my senior year. I love sports climbing and math, I also like to explore
places I've never been before near my town. I'm most interested in
agriculture and the climate crisis that I want to have a job related to it
some day. I joined the SheSpace program since I wanted to know more
about the use of earth observation satellites. I also wanted to expand my
knowledge to new areas. I'm really grateful that I have been a part of
SheSpace and learned a lot from it.
My name is Nankyung Yun. I am 19 years old and I attend
Goyang Global High School. I was always interested in lots of
things. So, I don't know what I want to be in the future as an
adult, however, I always dreamed about helping or giving
happiness to others with the work I will do. Because of that, I am
now trying lots of things to find the best path for me. I like
listening to music, reading books, crafting and taking
photos·videos and editing them. I joined She Space because my
most considerable interest now is doing things with data. I
wanted to learn how to manage various data. Also, as the satellite
is an excellent data-gathering method, I wanted to learn about
satellites and how the gathered data is used.
Hello, my name is Yuna Lee. I am 17 years old and I attend Goyang
Global High School. Joining SheSpace, I learned a lot and expanded my
horizons. When I am older, I want to be CTO, Chief Technical Officer,
and SheSpace was the opportunity to learn about the space technology
and the space industry. I love playing sports, especially dodgeball and
badminton. I also finished second in the school badminton tournament.
In my free time, I draw pictures. These days, I usually draw on my iPad,
but I also like to draw on paper with watercolor.
My name is Seohee Lim, and I attend Goyang Global High School in
Korea. I like geography and I'm interested in the urban environment
where we live. Taking a spatial data analysis class at school, I found
out that satellite imagery information is helpful for managing urban
problems. I participated in She Space project to get experience of
satellite imagery analysis. I was able to some spend quality time with
members of She Space. And taking this opportunity I could think
about data collection and utilization using satellite. I want to thank all
of the She Space members.
My name is Jaeyun Jung. I'm 18 years old, and I attend
Goyang Global High School. Until now, I've had various
dreams such as being a writer, announcer, and lawyer. But
I realized that I'm interested in international issues the most
and I do want to interact with people around the world. So
now my dream is to be a diplomat. I hope to spend my life
on the world stage not trapped in my community. However,
it was hard to figure out how to start. Even I wondered if I
really wanted to be a diplomat, sometimes. In this
confusion, She-Space activities became an opportunity to
be hopeful about my future. The world I faced through She-
Space was wider than I thought before, and what I have to
do and what I can do was infinite. Now I want to be a
'space' diplomat who makes cooperation with other countries in space development for Korea. All
people I met during the She-Space and everything I experienced there are precious to me, and I
dare say it was the best experience I've ever had in my life.
My name is Jiwoo Kim. I am 19 years old in Korean age and
attending Goyang Global High School. I've had many
different experiences and am still trying to do it. Through
those processes, I am learning about my aptitude. I like
reading books, I enjoy playing group sports and
sportsmanship a little more, and I love science very much.
And it's always been my dream to work in a space or sea job.
Thus, the title "She Space" was fascinating to me. She Space
activities provided me with more information about what I
would do if I achieved my dream and an opportunity to get to
know them. I set my goal more clearly with the help of She
Space.
My name is Chaeyun Lee and I attend Goyang Global High
school. I like to read books and want to be a teacher. The
SheSpace program was a series of surprises for me. I never
thought I could handle satellite images with an interest in
aerospace. Also, I never expected I will visit the space center or
make friends from Israel. As I did new challenges that I didn't
think I could do, I was able to improve myself day by day. Using
this experience as a good stepping stone, I want to continue my
interest in space!
Hi my name is Heo Hyun. I know, it’s a very hard name to
pronounce but it comes from my mother’s name and it actually
means black, which I find it quite unique and original. Anyway,
I’m very passionate person who is interested in music, science,
along with other things. One of the things I enjoy doing is playing
violin in orchestra because I really enjoy the harmony we can
bring. The reason I participated in SheSpace is because I liked the
idea of people from different countries working together, using
space technologies, to solve the problems in the Earth. The
collective work from students all over world about space, was the
opportunity I wouldn’t miss for the world.
Research Project #1:
Analysis of Forest Fire Damage Areas in Gangwon-do
by Jiwoo Kim, Yuna Lee, Cheyun Lee, Seohee Im, Yunseo Jeong, Jaeyun Jeong, Hyun Heo
Goyang Global High School
Motivation
Today, the frequency of wildfires is rapidly increasing, globally. Korea is no exception, and in
March of this year, massive wildfires broke out in Uljin and Gangwon. It took 9 days to extinguish
the wildfires and they spread to the surrounding areas, causing great damage. Statistically, of
course, the biggest cause of wildfires is the arson of the mountain climber, but the impact of climate
change can never be overlooked, given the frequency of fire occurrence and the rate of spread.
Therefore, our team became interested in the wildfire-affected areas, and we wanted to derive
meaningful results through satellite image analysis of before-and-after the wildfires, mainly in the
Gangwon Province area. The theme of the project is "Analysis of Forest Fire - Affected Areas
Centered on the Gangwon Province Region."
Figure 1. Forest fires in Korea
Satellite Data Utilization Process
We wanted to find out the changes before and after the wildfires occurred in 2019, in the
Gangwon Province Region through satellite image information. To this, we synthesized multi-
band images from the Sentinel-2 satellite images on April 3, the version before the wildfires and
the KOMPSAT-3 satellite images from April 5, the version after the wildfires. A colored-satellite
image that combines several bands visualizes a combination of reflective values that vary
depending on the constituent material or state that makes up the indicator, so that the state or
characteristics of the ground can be known. As a result, the satellite image on April 5 showed a
marked increase in the areas that appeared dark due to low vegetation, compared to the satellite
image on April 3. Since April 3 and 5 are just two days apart, this short-term vegetation area
decline can only be explained by wildfires.
Figure 2. Satellite data used in the study: Sentinel-2 Satellite Image acquired on Apr.3 (left) &
KOMPSAT-3 Satellite Image acquired on Apr.5 (right)
Image Analysis Using SNAP
We learned the NDVI and how to use the SNAP program. NDVI means Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index. It measures the state of plant health based on how the plant reflects light at
certain frequancies. This index defines values from -1 to 1. The closer to 1, the healthier the plant
is. Select the NDVI processor in 'thematic land processing'. After that, select Band 4 in the Red
source band, and Band 8 in the NIR source band. The part seems red on the images could be
interpreted as vegetation.
Now, in order to find areas with numerically high levels of damage, we intended to find the
difference in Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) between the two satellite imagery
images on April 3 and April 5. However, since the spatial resolutions of the two satellite images
were not the same, we began to work on unifying them, preferentially. Using the ‘GEOMETRIC
RESAMPLING’ function, we unified the pixel resolution to 3 M.
Figure 3. Calculation of NDVI using SNAP
Vegetation Index gap
After figuring each vegetation index of two satellite images, we analyzed the vegetation index
gap of those. It was calculated by subtracting the pre-forestry photos with lower vegetation index
from the post-forestry photos with a higher index. The bigger the gap is, the more white they were
displayed on the map (see Figure 4, left). This means the white part is the most damaged area.
Adjusting the difference value slightly and displaying the gap through mask manager, where the
difference value was between 0.51 and 1 was found that the forest fire damage was the most serious
(see Figure 4, right).
Figure 4. NDVI difference map (left) and extraction of burned area (right)
Data Analysis Results
Since the data on April 3, 2019 and the data on April 5, 2019 were compared, it is very reasonable
to explain the cause of the sharp difference between the two points by the Gangwon-do forest fire
that occurred from April 4 to 6, 2019. The high vegetation index in the April 3 data fell sharply on
April 5, and the difference was more than 0.51. Through this, it can be seen that the environment
was rapidly destroyed within a short period of time due to forest fires.
Final Thoughts
During this program, we were more than honored to be a part of this project. As we enter the
final year of high school, we have been struggling a lot between finishing high school, and entering
college. But because of this SHE SPACE project, we were able to be united toward a single goal.
Although our career paths vary, we had a common interest in one field, and that is International
Studies. And that’s how we were able to meet in this school called ‘Global High School’. We are
people who pursue knowledge about the international world, and that naturally included the
international society united for the outer space. In fact, it was also a big challenge for us to
participate in this program. Our school is very unique and it’s different from international schools.
Unlike other high schools, our school is focused on specific fields that are related to understanding
and having a better view of the world. The classes we take include international politics,
microeconomics and macroeconomics, environmental studies, regional studies, Geographic
Information System a.k.a. GIS, and comparative culture. Concentrated on liberal arts and social
sciences, this curriculum was able to give us a broad view of the world, but at the same time, it
limited in our knowledge related to natural science and engineering. The reason I brought up this
story is because this program was able to break us free from the limit of scientific knowledge. And
the limitation was not just knowledge of space or satellites, but the convergence between
disciplines. Connecting space with our lives, we realized that science and technology and the
culture of society were eventually linked together to construct this diversified and complex society
that we live in.
On the main page of Harvard University, you can find this sentence written with a cosmic
background image, "An accessible world is a better world for everyone." That’s why we, the
students of Goyang Global High school, dream of a world where aerospace is accessible to
everyone and where not only students but all people do not hesitate to dream and express their
unlimited creativity. Therefore, we would like to say that we were more than glad to be part of this
amazing project and we also want to give thanks to all the teams who participated in the SHE
SPACE INTERNATIONAL. Through this activity, we made a lot of unforgettable memories that
will always be a part of us and that will give strength to us in the future. We couldn't be happier
sharing this experience with you.
My personal thought at the end of the project
by Chaeyun Lee, Goyang Global High School
Will I be able to learn and use satellite images? This sentence is what we thought when I applied
for the SHE SPACE project. Due to the lack of confidence in science, I had no choice but to worry
about whether I could adapt well to clubs dealing with aerospace and satellites. But when I finished
the project, I found it not as difficult as I expected to handle satellite images, and I couldn't get one
question out of my head. Why did I not have confidence in science?
In order to solve my question, it is necessary to take a deep look at the cultural, social, and
educational structures of Korea. First, Goyang International High School, where our team is
attending, focuses on humanities and social sciences. The so-called liberal arts. The most
distinctive feature is that the proportion of women among students exceeds 70%. In Korea, it can
be clearly seen from the opposite of how certain studies correlate with women. On the one hand,
if there is our school, on the other side, there is a science high school called 'Science Department',
which mainly teaches natural science and science technology. The situation here is more serious.
Daejeon Science High School, which carried out the project together, has nearly 89 percent of men.
It is said that all 8 girls from Daejeon Science High School who participated in the project are
second-year girls.
Comparison of gender ratio in Goyang Global High School(left) and Daejeon Science High School(right)
I don't want to say that women are better at liberal arts and men are better at science. I just want
to pinch the social structure where certain genders are concentrated in a specific subject. According
to the 2018 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), there was no
difference in math and science grades according to gender in Korea. Nevertheless, Korean society
still recommends liberal arts to countless female students. They will naturally lose confidence in
natural science and technology, learning about humanities and social sciences.
This vicious cycle is so natural that it has a discriminatory structure in our society without our
noticing it. Johann Galtung says structural force is tantamount to inequality in social structure. The
SheSpace project was born because it could no longer condone this structural force. We were able
to participate in the project and reject the structural force we were given and learn about what we
wanted to learn. This was only a step toward a truly just and fair society.
All the Hard Work…
Research Project #2:
Analysis of Climate Change: Rainy season (2020, 2021)
by Hyunseo Son, Seoyoon Lee, Jiyoon Jeong, and Hayoung Chung
Daejeon Science High School
Motivation
Climate change can affect rainfall intensity and frequency. When the ocean temperature increases,
more amounts of water evaporate into the air, and it can produce more precipitation. In addition to
this, global warming also affects large-scale atmospheric circulation, and as a result of wind
changes, the subtropic is expanded with the changes in rainfall trends. The latest IPCC reports that
the surface temperature has risen due to global warming with high confidence. However, the
change in precipitation due to global warming is difficult to detect. Therefore, it is necessary to
understand the pattern of precipitation change and analyze its relationship with global warming
through continuous global precipitation monitoring. Satellite observation is an effective tool to
monitor the Earth’s atmospheric state continuously. This study analyzes rainfall products from
Korea’s second geostationary satellite, GEO-KOMPSAT-2 (GK2A). Since Korea experienced an
abnormal rainy season in 2020, we conducted a comparative analysis of the rainfall patterns from
satellite observation in 2020 and 2021.
Research Results
The rainy season, Changma, is caused by precipitation along a persistent stationary front. It usually
starts in late spring and ends in early summer when the subtropical ridge becomes strong enough
to push the seasonal rain front north. However rainy season in 2020 started in late June and lasted
mid-August, causing 45 deaths from flooding and about 8000 victims. It happens because the
southern system (related to the Northwestern Pacific subtropical High) provided the moisture for
Korean Changma, and the northern one created northerly (southward) winds, which held the
moisture in place over the Korean Peninsula, creating more persistent rain. Compared to 2020,
Changma in 2021 recorded the third shortest rainy season. It started in Early July and lasted about
15 days.
Table 1 The period of rainy season
To compare precipitation patterns during two rainy seasons in 2020 and 2021, we downloaded the
GK2A satellite data from the National Meteorological Satellite Center. The GK2A is a
geostationary meteorological satellite launched on December 5, 2018, and has 16 channels from
Visible to Infrared. The National Meteorological Satellite Center provides 52 types of weather
products retrieved from GK2A. They are divided into 23 primary products: surface temperature,
sea surface temperature, rainfall rate, and ozone amount. And 29 additional products include forest
fire detection, current, and aerosol particle size.
그림 1 The primary products of GK2A
We used Python programming to visualize and analyze the data. The rainfall products from GK2A
represent in figure 2 and 3. The figure shows the feature of the rain front in 2020 and 2021.
그림 2 Rainfall map in the 2020 rainy season
그림 3 Rainfall map in the 2021 rainy season
With this project to analyze the rainfall patterns from satellite data, we were able to learn the following:
- How to get the rainfall information from satellite observations.
◼ Geostationary satellite provides continuous monitoring images that are valuable for
analyzing the impact of climate change on the precipitation system.
- Various satellite products characterized by each channel.
◼ The satellite uses various wavelengths that provide physically meaningful
observation values for analyzing weather and climate patterns.
- Python programming to visualize the satellite data.
◼ Satellite data differs from the image files (png, jpg, …). Therefore, to read satellite
products, specific programming is needed. Python is an open-source tool to read
satellite data effectively.
All the Hard Work…
Research Project #3:
Analysis of Heat Wave Change in Korea
by Hyun Jeong, Yong, Seo Yoon, Jeong, Seo Eun, Kang, Hee Jin, Ahn
Daejeon Science High School
Motivation
As global climate change is becoming more severe, this year, especially, the heat wave caused
significant damage. In the summer of 2022, the UK recorded 40 degrees Celsius for the first time
since weather observations began. Also, hundreds of people have died in southwestern Europe,
including Portugal and Spain. This heat wave eventually led to a forest fire, which intensified the
damage. This heat wave was also observed in India and Pakistan from March to May, setting the
highest temperature recorded in April. We conducted this study to analyze how these phenomena
are changing in Korea, where we currently live, and to recognize and inform the seriousness of
climate change through heat waves.
Introduction
A heat wave is a period of excessively hot weather. Although definitions vary, heat waves are
usually measured in relation to the general climate of the area and the normal temperature of the
season. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, when a day with a daily maximum
temperature of 33°C or higher is expected to last for more than two days, it is considered a heat
wave and an advisory is issued in Korea.
Therefore, the number of heatwave days in Korea was investigated with this definition on the
Korea Meteorological Administration website. When the data were collected and graphed, it was
confirmed that the number of heatwave days in Korea increased over time [Figure 1]. The
unusually long heat wave was caused by high atmospheric pressure from Tibet and a North Pacific
anticyclone. Also, we found that the number of heatwave days increases, and the average heatwave
temperature also increases every year [Figure 2]. Thus, we tried to find out the increase of
heatwave in Korea using the data of meteorological satellite GEO-KOMSAT-2A (GK2A).
Figure 1. Heatwave days in each year
Figure 2. Heatwave days and heatwave average temperature in each year
Satellite data collecting
The GK-2A launched on December 5, 2018 is available for diverse observations owing to its
16 channels from previous 5 channels. In total, 52 types of meteorological products are made
based on this. GK-2A is available for observing the entire sectors in 10-minute interval and
this makes speedier monitoring of severe weather phenomena for reducing meteorological
disaster. In addition, high performance meteorological sensor (AMI) provides more precise
observation. Korean developed space environment monitor strengthened our capabilities of
space weather observation.
We used AMI and collected the data which is observed at 2p.m. However, if we could not
find proper data because of heavy clouds at the time, we used different time images in that case.
We finally collected the highest temperature days as heatwaves in each year from 2019 to 2021.
Analysis & Results
During the SheSpace program, we learned how to use Python to collect satellite data and
visualize scientific data [Figures 3 and 4]. In Figure 3, we find that the surface temperature of the
heat wave is much higher than that of a typical day. Also, through data investigation, we found
that the sea surface temperature during the heat wave is higher than usual.
In conclusion, we summarize what we learned through the study. Firstly, the number of heat
wave days is increasing, and the ocean surface temperature is rising. According to our analysis,
the heat wave is getting harsher. Second, we realize that meteorological satellite research is
needed to understand climate change trends in the long term. Lastly is the effect of a heatwave.
Through the survey of the articles, we realized that at least one person had died yearly. Forty-
eight people dead from heat-related illnesses in 2018, the hottest year. The heatwave is a threat to
the ecosystem. Looking at these results, we have been thinking a lot about what actions we
should take to reduce the impact of climate change on humans. We will start with one step to
reduce the use of plastics to prevent climate change.
Figure 3. Comparison of surface temperatures for heatwave and normal day
Figure 4. Comparison of ocean surface temperatures for heatwave and normal day
All the Hard Work…