SpaceX launches South Korea’s second spy satellite amid race against Pyongyang
South Korea’s second homegrown spy satellite entered orbit after it blasted off on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, Seoul’s defence ministry said.
The launch comes after Seoul’s first spy satellite was put into orbit from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base in December.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on Sunday and the satellite successfully separated from the launch vehicle and entered its targeted orbit, the ministry said in a statement.
It made successful communications with a ground station about two hours and 40 minutes after the launch, the ministry added.
It was part of SpaceX’s first-ever Bandwagon-1 class rideshare mission which carried 10 other satellites.
The back-to-back launches of reconnaissance satellites come amid a race against North Korea for military capabilities in space.
Bandwagon-1 is SpaceX's first dedicated rideshare mission launching to a mid-inclination orbit. While our Transporter rideshare missions launch to a sun-synchronous orbit, launching to a mid-inclination orbit fills in the gaps for our customers that wish to expand their coverage… pic.twitter.com/BFwQJ9T9Oe
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 7, 2024
After two earlier attempts ended in rocket crashes, Pyongyang said in November last year that it used its own Chollima-1 launch vehicle to place the Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite in orbit.
North Korea has previously vowed to launch three new spy satellites in 2024.
Shin Won-sik, South Korea’s defence minister, told reporters that North Korea could launch a second spy satellite as early as mid-April, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Mr Shin’s comment was based on the military’s observation of North Korea’s related activities, South Korean defence ministry spokesman Jeon Ha-gyu told a briefing.
Seoul’s second spy satellite is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capable of producing images regardless of weather conditions thanks to the way it processes data.
