South Korea to launch set of small satellites for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions by 2028

South Korea plans to launch a cluster of five small satellites into low Earth orbit by 2028 to monitor emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, officials said Tuesday, Yonhap reports.

South Korea
Photo credit: Yonhap

The plan was announced by the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) as part of the country's first 20-year greenhouse gas reduction scheme for the 2023-42 period, released last year.

Under the plan, NIER will develop five mini-size greenhouse gas observation satellites by 2027 in collaboration with Hanwha Systems, with a total budget of 47.3 billion won (US$34 million), including 4.3 billion won allocated for this year.

Starting in 2027, all five satellites will be launched into orbit through 2028 to monitor carbon dioxide and methane emissions for up to seven years, operating as a cluster at an altitude of about 600 kilometers, with an interval of some 80 km between them.

The research center plans to capitalize on as much homegrown satellite technology as possible for the development of the so-called "cube" satellites, which will weigh less than 50 kilograms, and measure about 20 centimeters in width and 40 cm in height with a spatial resolution of about 100 meters.

NIER explained that the Korea Meteorological Administration's ongoing greenhouse gas observation satellite project differs from its own. NIER's cube satellites aim to locate the exact sources of emissions and measure the emissions of individual emitters, whereas the weather agency's project seeks to gauge the concentration of greenhouse gases in the natural environment, it said.

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