SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea launched its largest satellite yet on its nationally developed space rocket early Thursday, the fourth of six planned launches through 2027.
The three-stage Nuri rocket lifted off from the country’s spaceport on an island off the southwestern coastal county of Goheung. Aerospace officials were monitoring whether it will successfully deliver a 516-kilogram (1,137-pound) science satellite and 12 other microsatellites into orbit.
The main satellite, designed to orbit 600 kilometers (372 miles) above Earth, is equipped with a wide-range airglow camera to observe auroral activity and separate systems for measuring plasma and magnetic fields and for testing how life-science experiments perform in space.
The dozen smaller “cube” satellites, developed by university teams and research institutions, include GPS systems to study Earth’s atmosphere, infrared cameras to track plastic in the oceans, and systems for testing solar cells or communication equipment.
Thursday’s event was the country’s first launch involving a Nuri rocket since May 2023, when it successfully placed a 180-kilogram (397-pound) observation satellite into orbit, and the fourth overall since its first attempt in October 2021, which failed to deliver a dummy device.
