KITSAT-3 was a South Korean

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...

minisatellite A minisatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from 10–60 base pairs) are typically repeated 5-50 times. Minisatellites occur at more than 1,000 locations in the human genome and they are notable for ...

which carried MEIS (Multispectral Earth Imaging System) and SENSE (Space ENvironment Scientific Experiment) instruments to

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

(LEO). Launched on 26 May 1999 by Indian space agency

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

(ISRO), on

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...

the satellite was renamed to Uribyol-3. Manufactured by

KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTReC; ko, 인공위성연구센터), is a university based research center for satellite technology and applications research. Space Programme SaTReC, which is located within the Korea Advanced Ins ...

(SaTReC), KITSAT-3 was developed with experience from

KITSAT-1 KITSAT-1 or KITSAT-A (Korean Institute of Technology Satellite) is the first satellite to be launched for the South Korea. Once launched, the satellite was given the nickname "Our Star" ( 우리별). The KITSAT-1 is a low Earth orbit (LEO) sate ...

and

KITSAT-2 KITSAT-2 ( a.k.a. ''"Uribyol 2", "KITSAT-OSCAR 25", "KO-25" and "KITSAT-B"'') was a South Korean experimental Earth observation microsatellite. KITSAT-2 was South Korea's second satellite and was the first to be developed and manufactured domes ...

(no heritage to the KITSAT-1 and KITSAT-2 bus) and was the first independently designed South Korean

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

Launch

Kitsat-3 was launched in the PSLV-C2 mission by 26 May 1999 by Indian space agency

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

at 06:22 UTC from

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Satish Dhawan Space Centre - SDSC (formerly Sriharikota Range - SHAR) is a rocket launch centre (spaceport) operated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is located in Sriharikota, Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. Sriharikota R ...

in India. The launch was the first commercial launch by ISRO of its

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

( PSLV-C2) and US$1.0 million (equivalent to US$ million in ) was charged by the Indian agency for launching and injecting the satellite in the low Earth orbit.

Mission highlights

* First independently designed

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

* First commercial flight of the launch vehicle,

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...

(PSLV) * Spacecraft attitude was first captured and 3-axis stabilized on 30 May 1999 * First image obtained on 31 May 1999 *

Solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...

deployed on 24 June 1999 * Design for life of 3 years * However, operations ended in December 2003 (4.5 years achieved)

References

{{Orbital launches in 1999 Satellites orbiting Earth Satellites of South Korea Spacecraft launched in 1999 Amateur radio satellites

Launch

Mission highlights

See also

References