– First Communication with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) Ground Station in Daejeon Completed at 10:50 p.m. KST on July 7
The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA, Administrator Taeseog Oh), the Rural Development Administration (Administrator Seungdon Lee), and the Korea Forest Service (Administrator Eun-sik Park) announced that the Next Generation Medium Satellite No. 4 (CAS500-4) successfully established its first communication link with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) ground station in Daejeon at 10:50 p.m. KST on July 7, approximately 6 hours and 38 minutes after launch, following three communication links with overseas ground stations. During the initial operation phase, two overseas ground stations (the Svalbard Ground Station in Norway and King Sejong Station in Antarctica) will be utilized.
During the first communication link with the KARI ground station in Daejeon, the deployment of the solar panels and the normal status of the satellite’s main body were confirmed. Additional communication sessions will be conducted to support stable mission operations, including the deployment of the X-band antenna, activation of attitude control system actuators, and functional checks.
Following the initial operation phase, the CAS500-4 Satellite is scheduled to begin full-scale mission operations in 2027 and will provide data for agricultural and forest observation, as well as disaster and emergency response areas such as wildfires.