Photo: Collected
South Korea is eyeing early April for the launch of its second reconnaissance satellite from a US base in the state of Florida as part of its strategy to improve surveillance over North Korea, the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Monday (25 March).
The first surveillance satellite was successfully launched with the use of a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster from a US military base in California in December 2023. Both launches are made as part of the project to set up a net of five reconnaissance satellites by the year 2025.
"Regarding our reconnaissance satellite, we are at the stage of final consultations with a contractor and a US company overseeing the launch, and as far as I know, the launch could be in early April," the ministry's spokesman Jeon Ha-gyu said.
At the same time, the precise data of the launch was not named.
Unlike the first satellite that was equipped with electro-optical and infrared sensors to obtain detailed images of the Earth, the new satellites will also have synthetic aperture radars, which will enable collecting data regardless of weather conditions.
North Korea launched its first military surveillance satellite in November 2023 and was planning to launch three more this year. Last week, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said that North Korea appeared to be already preparing for the second launch in late March.
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