S. Korea to launch first ocean weather-communications satellite in March

SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will launch its first
weather-communications satellite in March that will allow the country gather high
quality ocean meteorological data, the government said Friday.
The satellite will be placed in geostationary orbit 36,000km from Earth and be
equipped with a multi-spectrum camera and sensor array that can help monitor
typhoons, ocean temperatures, the movement of dust and cloud formations, the
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said.
"The satellite, built in cooperation with Astrium, has been assembled in the
country by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and will be shipped to
Toulouse, France within the month for final performance evaluations," said Yoo
Guk-hee, head of the ministry's space development division.
The official added that cooperation with Astrium -- a global leader in satellite
production -- has helped improve the country's capabilities in this
state-of-the-art field.
The actual launch of the satellite will take place at the Guiana Space Centre
near Kourou in South America, he said.
South Korea spent 355.8 billion won (US$304.6 million) in the last seven year to
build the high-tech communication, ocean and meteorological satellite (COMS).
The ministry said that once the COMS is in orbit, Seoul will able to receive
faster and more accurate weather information and related ocean conditions near
the Korean Peninsula compared with present.
Currently South Korea gets its ocean-related meteorological information from
Japan, causing a time delay of 30 minutes between actual changes in weather and
the time it takes to reach local experts. This lag time can be halved to 15
minutes under ordinary conditions and seven in case of emergencies like the
approach of a typhoon.
The satellite, which can also function as a regular communications satellite, has
a operational life of seven years.
South Korea is the seventh country in the world to actually build a commercially
viable indigenous satellite, and plans to launch several multi-purpose satellites
in the coming years.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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