South Korea's Nuri rocket deploys 13 satellites in landmark launch

South Korea’s Nuri rocket has successfully deployed 13 satellites into orbit. The launch took place from Naro Space Center, placing the satellites at an altitude of 600 kilometres. Among them, the main satellite, CAS500-3, quickly established contact with a ground station in Antarctica. The Nuri rocket carried 12 cube satellites alongside the primary payload. These smaller satellites were developed by Korean universities, research institutions, and private companies. Communication with cube satellites can take up to a week due to their limited capacity compared to larger models.

By the day of the launch, five cube satellites had already made contact. Three more were reached on Friday, and another on Saturday. This brought the total to nine out of 12 cube satellites successfully communicating with ground control.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is now focusing on connecting with the remaining three. The government has also pledged to support stable transportation for future cube satellite missions. The mission marks another step forward for Korea’s space programme. Nine of the 12 cube satellites are now operational, with efforts ongoing for the rest. These satellites represent a growing area of space technology, despite the challenges of repeated trials and errors.