The Korea AeroSpace Administration said on the 11th that the space science payloads aboard the third next-generation medium-class satellite, launched on the Nuri rocket's fourth flight on the 27th of last month, succeeded in sending initial data to the ground.
The Korea AeroSpace Administration said, "For two weeks during the initial operations period after launch, the payloads maintained a stable state and conducted functional tests for observation missions, and all initial operations results were successfully verified."
The third next-generation medium-class satellite carries the wide-field airglow imager for space (ROKITS), the space plasma–magnetic field analyzer (IAMMAP), and the bio 3D printing-based stem cell 3D differentiation culture validation unit (Bio Cabinet).
Through test operations, ROKITS confirmed that its imaging functions are operating normally, securing the wide observation swath of more than 700 kilometers as targeted while capturing fine terrain features. ROKITS aims to photograph Earth's auroras.
IAMMAP is working to find observation conditions optimized for the plasma and magnetic field environment of the ionosphere, which varies greatly each time it passes over daytime regions, nighttime regions, and polar regions during the initial operations period. Based on this, it plans to begin its observation mission to compile global maps of space plasma and magnetic fields that change with the seasons.
In its first communication after launch, the Bio Cabinet confirmed that the internal environmental maintenance system for the survival of stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) was operating normally. It then carried out its first bio 3D printing mission and completed the test successfully.
Kang Gyeong-in, head of the space science exploration division at the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), said, "With all payloads on the third next-generation medium-class satellite successfully receiving initial data, we expect to measure various changes in the space environment with greater precision."