▲Performance verification satellite configuration

Two-way communication confirmed at 03:00 on the 22nd
Carrying 4 cubesats...To perform missions over the next 2 years

The Korean-made launch vehicle Nuri rocket successfully separated the performance verification satellite and established ground communication.

The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) announced that the Nuri rocket, launched at 16:00 on the 21st, successfully separated the performance verification satellite in the target orbit and established two-way communication with the ground station of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute in Daejeon at approximately 03:02 on the 22nd.

On the day of launch on the 21st, basic status information of the performance verification satellite was received through the Sejong Station in Antarctica and the antenna at the KARI ground station in Daejeon.

Subsequently, early yesterday morning, two-way communication was established between the performance verification satellite and the KARI ground station in Daejeon, confirming that the Nuri rocket's satellite orbit insertion capability was fully verified.

The performance verification satellite is a satellite developed to validate the launch performance of the Nuri rocket. Along with payloads to verify domestically developed technologies, four cubesats developed by domestic universities (Chosun University, Seoul National University, Yonsei University, KAIST, etc.) were mounted.

The performance verification satellite has a mass of approximately 180 kg (including 4 cubesats) and is equipped with domestically developed △thermal batteries △control moment gyroscopes △S-Band antennas.

The performance verification satellite will verify in a sun-synchronous orbit between 600~800 km altitude over 2 years whether the payloads perform their designed functions properly in the actual space environment.

The main missions of the cubesats include △collecting GPS RO (Radio Occultation) data for Earth atmospheric observation △fine dust monitoring △hyperspectral camera Earth observation △multi-band Earth observation in electro-optical, mid-infrared, and long-wave infrared bands, etc.

In today's communication, satellite time and ground station time were synchronized through remote commands, and the GPS receiver mounted on the performance verification satellite was activated. Additionally, orbital information necessary for future three-axis attitude control was transmitted from the ground station to the performance verification satellite.

Analysis of the detailed satellite status data received from the performance verification satellite confirmed that the performance verification satellite is in good condition and all functions are operating normally.

Plans are in place to download initial data and GPS data stored in the satellite's internal memory after launch in high-speed transmission mode (1 Mbps).

The performance verification satellite will continue to check its condition over the next 7 days and stabilize its attitude, then eject the cubesats developed by domestic universities one by one at 2-day intervals starting on June 29th.

Kim Ki-seok, Head of Space Technology Division, stated, "Since the communication between the performance verification satellite and the ground station was successful, we will make our best efforts to ensure the smooth ejection of the cubesats and verification of payload performance going forward."