Development of Three Microsatellites and Beyond

Development of Three Microsatellites and Beyond

Professor Sung had participated in establishing Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTReC) in 1989 and had a significant role in successfully developing, launching, and operating KITSA-1 and KITSAT-2,  as Technical Manager in 1992 and 1993, respectively. He also had a very active role in training young talented students in this new space technology field through a systematic educational program.

KITSAT-1 signifies the first satellite in Korean history opening the space age in Korea and the 22nd country to have its own satellite. Korea became the 11th country to launch a new rocket with a Science & Technology Satellite in 2013 after 20 years of the first launch of our satellite. This is a significant achievement in space-related research area in Korea. He received the third highest National Order of Merits, Dongbaek Medal from the  Korean Government in 1992 for contributions to the development of the first Korean satellite, KITSAT-1.

He also participated in developing a new platform, KITSAT-3 as a principal investigator and Director. The mission objective of the KITSAT-3 is to develop and perform the in-orbit test of a unique small satellite system. Its new features, compared with the previous KITSAT-1 and KITSAT-2, includes 3-axis stabilized attitute control, common bus architecture, deployable solar panrls, high speed data transmission for satellite image data, and Korean solid state mass memory system. Its mission payloads include pushbroom linear CCD camera with a Ground Spatial Resolution of 13.8m @730km and high energy particle telescope & radiation measurement equipment. This KITSAT-3 was successfully launched in 1999 and then successfully operated. Since then, the Korean government initiated a new Science and Technology SATellite(STSAT) program and SaTReC engineers are currently developing STSAT-3.  The significance of this project is that the KITSAT-3 has become a main bus platform of these STSATs program in Korea and five STASATs have been developed using the same bus platform since then.

Through the development of the first three satellites, many research engineers were trained through practical experiences in space related products and they are currently actively working for many universities and world-famous space companies, such as NASA, OHB, and Eutelsat. 8 start-up companies developing satellite platforms, space related products, or industrial high-resolution cameras have been established since 2000 and one of them was listed in Korean stock market in 2008. They have carried out 17 world-wide space missions, including the development and successful operations of three foreign satellites, RazakSAT (2008, Malaysia), DubaiSat-1 (2008) and DubaiSat-2 (2013, UAE). The Dubai-Sat-2 has a pixel image resolution with a submeter.  They also  launched Deimos-2 Satellite (Spain) in 2014. That company is one of world-wide big three small-satellite companies (300 kg class). This KITSAT program was selected as one of ‘Top 10 Technologies of the 20th Century in Korea’ on the last day of the 20th century by the Korea Broadcasting System

The external views of the three microsatellites are shown in the following figures.

Figure 1  KITSAT-1, KITSAT-2, and KITSAT-3 (Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)

Some experimental results on space science experiments, launch operations, high-resolution camera images in Las Vegas and San Francisco areas are shown as follows: 

Figure 2   KITSAT 1 & 2  Space Experiments (Images and Total Dose Experiments)(Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center) 

Figure 3  Launch Operation of KITSAT-3 (Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)

 Figure 4  Launch & Early Operations of KITSAT-3 (Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)

Figure 5   KITSAT Images: Las Vegas Airport (Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)

Figure 6   KITSAT-3 Image: San Francisco Bay Area (Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center) 

Figure 7 KITSAT-3 Image: Mt. Sakurajima, Kagoshima, Japan (Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)

Figure 8   KITSAT-3 Images: Cairo and Pyramid Area (Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)

Figure 9  KITSAT-3 Images: Craters of North of San Francisco, USA and Cholwon, Korea (Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)

Figure  10   SaTReC Members Participating in the Development of KITSAT 1(우리별을 개발한 사람들)(Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)

Figure 11 대덕 50년 대표 성과: 1992/1993  KAIST 우리별 1호, 2호 발사; 1999년 KAIST 우리별 3호 발사 포함  (source: 그림 한장에 '대덕 50년' 조감···대표성과 '기술지도'에 담았다, HelloDD, 20231214.)

Figure 12  한국의 우주 개발 로드맵: 인공위성, 로켓 등(Source: KARI)

KAIST 인공위성연구소 개발 위성들의 발사 및 운용

• 1992년 8월 11일, 우리별 1호

• 1993년 9월 26일, 우리별 2호

• 1999년 5월 26일,  우리별 3호

• 2003년 9월 27일,  과학기술위성1호(STSAT-1)

• 2009년 8월 25일, 과학기술위성2A호--> 나로호 로켓 탑재  위성: 궤도진입 실패

• 2010년 6월 10일 , 과학기술위성2B호 --> 나로호 로켓 탑재  위성: 궤도진입 실패

• 2013년 1월 30일,  나로과학위성(STSAT-2C)

• 2013년 11월 21일,  과학기술위성3호(STSAT-3)

• 2018년 12월 4일, 차세대소형위성1호

• 2023년 5월 25일, 차세대소형위성2호

차세대소형위성 2호 SAR (영상레이더) 영상들(Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)

 KAIST 인공위성연구소 의 과거, 현재, 가까운 미래의  위성 발사(Source: KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center)