The satellites captured their first images and relayed them to a ground station 14 hours and 29 minutes after lifting off from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, at 12:25 p.m. on Oct. 7.
The fifth Nuri flight carried a record 15 satellites and a payload topping 1 ton for the first time. It released the five primary satellites one after another at about 575 kilometers, followed by nine of its 10 CubeSats.
All five satellites, built on a production line, are in contact with ground stations, and their power generation and attitude control systems are working normally, KASA said.
The agency said the early images show the satellites and their optical cameras are functioning as designed.
"This early image acquisition is a meaningful achievement that proves microsatellites mass-produced with domestic technology are operating stably in orbit," KASA Administrator Oh Tae-seog said.
Oh said the result built on experience from earlier prototype and verification satellites.
KASA and KAIST will finish checking the onboard cameras before gradually spacing the five satellites at set intervals to form a constellation. The satellites will be handed over to the Korea Satellite Operations Center on Jeju Island next year to supply imagery for national security and disaster response.
Five more satellites are scheduled to fly on Nuri's sixth launch in 2027 under the government's plan, completing a 10-satellite fleet designed to photograph the Korean Peninsula at least three times a day.
Each satellite weighs less than 100 kilograms and carries an optical camera with a black-and-white resolution of about 1 meter.
AJP Takeaways
- Five NEONSAT microsatellites launched on South Korea's Nuri rocket on Oct. 7, 2026, captured and transmitted their first Earth images 14 hours and 29 minutes after liftoff, according to the Korea AeroSpace Administration and KAIST.
- Nuri's fifth flight carried a record 15 satellites and more than 1 ton of payload, deploying all five primary satellites and nine of 10 CubeSats at about 575 kilometers.
- The satellites will move to the Korea Satellite Operations Center in Jeju in 2027, and five more are set to launch on Nuri's sixth flight that year to complete a 10-satellite constellation.
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