Recon satellite No. 4 launched

[Anchor]

This is a view of the airport taken by satellite.

It used radar, SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), which reconstructs images from signals reflected by waves emitted from the satellite.

Although it is in black and white, it can be used at night regardless of the weather.

We also captured the same location using electro-optical and infrared satellites.

In electro-optical (EO) mode, colors appear as they do in reality, and the system can distinguish objects down to about 30cm.

However, it cannot take images when the weather is cloudy or at night.

On the other hand, the infrared mode of this satellite can capture images at night, although the clarity is reduced.

Powering five reconnaissance satellites that operate in these different ways is our military's '425 project'.

Today (Apr. 22), the fourth satellite successfully launched.

Our correspondent, Song Geum-han reports on how our surveillance capabilities against North Korea will change, once the project is completed and all five satellites are operational.

[Report]

The fourth reconnaissance satellite of our military is mounted on the Falcon 9 rocket from the American company SpaceX.

["3, 2, 1, ignition. Engine is on full power, and lift off. Go Falcon! Go Bandwagon-3!"]

It flies into the sky, spewing flames.

It launched at 9:48 AM and entered its normal orbit in 15 minutes, confirming the success of the launch through two communications with the ground station.

Starting with the first reconnaissance satellite launched in December 2023, all four military reconnaissance satellites have successfully settled into their mission orbits.

The EO/IR mode reconnaissance satellite 1 passes over the Korean Peninsula twice a day, while the other SAR satellites pass over four to six times a day.

The fifth and final satellite of the '425 project' is also planned to be launched within this year, and once all are operational, we will be able to monitor key facilities in North Korea approximately every two hours.

[Jeong Gyu-heon/Director of Space Command and Control Project, Defense Acquisition Program Administration: "(By operating the satellite) in a cluster, we can further shorten the revisit cycle of the surveillance target area and identify signs of North Korea's provocations more accurately and quickly."]

The military has been focusing on equipping early warning control aircraft and high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles as surveillance and reconnaissance assets, which are key to the 'kill chain' for countering North Korea's nuclear threat.

Adding reconnaissance satellites, which we have mainly relied on allied countries until now, will bring us one step closer to completing the kill chain.

This is Song Geum-han from KBS News.