韩国公布Nuri号中长期发射路线图：2031年首次发射军用侦察卫星，2027-2032年每年至少发射一次

The government's decision to launch military reconnaissance satellites aboard the homegrown Nuri rocket has given concrete shape to a plan for a space security system in which South Korea develops, operates and now launches its own satellites. If the plan proceeds as scheduled, the country will have a domestic transport capability to deploy satellites according to military needs. The move is expected to reduce constraints tied to foreign launch schedules and to increase autonomy in operating space assets, including the additional deployment of reconnaissance satellites.
The Nuri rocket will carry military satellites for the first time on its 11th launch in 2031, the Korea AeroSpace Administration said on the 20th. The satellites included in the launch plan are four electro-optical (EO) satellites belonging to a small satellite constellation. They photograph the ground with cameras to monitor changes at military facilities and signs of troop and equipment movements. This is the first time a plan for the Nuri rocket to launch defense satellites has been disclosed.
Experts said the four EO satellites would be used as part of a small satellite constellation designed to complement observation gaps left by existing reconnaissance satellites. As the number of satellites increases, the "revisit cycle" for observing the same area again shortens, allowing more frequent tracking of North Korean movements. "Once the small satellites are launched, they are expected to be linked with the reconnaissance satellites secured through the existing Project 425 to build a network," said Kim Yeol-soo, head of the security strategy office at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs. "Through this, they could be used in operating the Korean air and missile defense system."
The decision to launch the EO satellites on the Nuri rocket marks a significant change in particular. The military already directly operates reconnaissance satellites developed under domestic leadership. Until now, South Korea had entrusted the launches of all five military reconnaissance satellites secured through Project 425 to SpaceX's Falcon 9 in the United States. Project 425 is a program to secure one electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) satellite and four synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, pursued to independently monitor North Korea's nuclear and missile activity and key military facilities.
"Until now, we have been shortening the revisit cycle by putting satellites into orbit through Project 425, but dependence on U.S. intelligence remained high," said Doo Jin-ho, a visiting research fellow at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University. "I expect this satellite launch to strengthen our independent surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and reinforce the complementarity of the South Korea-U.S. alliance."
Still, launching satellites reliably in line with military needs will require raising the Nuri rocket's launch performance to a certain level. The Nuri rocket has succeeded in four of its five launches through the fifth this month, giving it a cumulative success rate of 80%. It has succeeded in four consecutive launches from the second through the fifth, but the cumulative rate needs to rise above 90%.
To that end, the government plans to accumulate reliability and operational experience for the launch vehicle through repeated launches, while also building up company-led launch capabilities. The Korea AeroSpace Administration will launch national satellites for public and defense purposes on the Nuri rocket at least once a year from 2027 through 2032. Two launches are planned for 2030. In other years, it will consider adding launches if further demand arises, such as for low-Earth-orbit communications satellites or demonstrations of space data centers. The idea is to connect domestic satellite demand with domestically built launch vehicles, establishing the principle of "our satellites on our launch vehicles." If all launches through the 10th succeed, the cumulative success rate is expected to reach 90%.
Improvements in transport capacity and cost efficiency will fall to a next-generation launch vehicle. The government plans to develop by 2032 a next-generation launch vehicle that raises transport capacity to 7 tons at an altitude of 500 kilometers, up from the Nuri rocket's 2.2 tons. Along with securing the capacity to carry heavier satellites or multiple satellites, it will apply reusable technology to cut launch costs.
Reusable technology will be verified in stages. Low-altitude takeoff and landing flights of a small test vehicle will be conducted by 2028, and vertical takeoff and landing tests of the next-generation launch vehicle's first stage by 2032. The goal is then to complete, by 2035, the technology to recover and reuse first-stage rockets that have finished satellite launch missions. The government plans to involve private companies throughout the development of the next-generation launch vehicle so that the program leads to private-sector commercial launches afterward.
A second space center will also be pursued in preparation for rising launch demand. The final site will be decided by December this year after review by the National Space Committee. It is being designed as a multipurpose launch site capable of handling more than 10 launches a year of reusable next-generation vehicles as well as small and mid-sized private commercial launches.
Separately, the government newly disclosed on the same day a plan to send three companion satellites of the Kompsat-8 multipurpose satellite into space on the Nuri rocket during its 12th launch in 2032. Kompsat-8 is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite and will be the first to adopt a "multistatic" approach operating three companion satellites together. The companion satellites are the ones slated to be launched on the Nuri rocket.