South Korea launched its second domestically made spy satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, enabling it to keep closer tabs on threats from the likes of nuclear-armed North Korea.
The satellite was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday. It is a synthetic aperture radar satellite, meaning it can use radar waves to produce ultrahigh resolution images of objects on the ground, regardless of cloud cover or weather, according to the Yonhap news agency.
South Korea has relied on the U.S. for space-based intelligence, but is now seeking to supplement that by stepping up its own reconnaissance capabilities with a series of launches aimed at putting five spy satellites in orbit by 2025. The spy probes are part of a broader effort to develop South Korea’s space program, including the launch in May last year of a Nuri rocket that transported eight satellites into orbit.
In December, a SpaceX rocket placed South Korea’s first homegrown reconnaissance satellite into orbit.
North Korea, which has a tendency to try to upstage its neighbor when it comes to space launches, fired off a rocket in late November that put its first spy satellite into orbit — after failing twice earlier in 2023 to do so. Kim Jong Un’s regime also appears to be readying its space launch facility for another mission, the 38 North specialist website has reported.
While officials in Seoul believe a North Korean spy satellite would be rudimentary at best, it could help Pyongyang refine its targeting as it rolls out new missiles designed to strike South Korea and Japan, which host the bulk of U.S. military personnel in the region.