The Korea AeroSpace Administration and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said that Arirang 7 (Multipurpose Practical Satellite 7), equipped with a sub-meter ultra-high-resolution electro-optical camera, departed for the Guiana Space Center in South America on the 23rd to prepare for launch.
Arirang 7 left KARI in Daejeon on the 23rd, was loaded onto Antonov Airlines' AN-124 dedicated cargo aircraft to depart from Incheon Airport, and is scheduled to arrive at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana in South America on the 25th, two days later. Arirang 7 is being transported in a vibration-free, temperature- and humidity-controlled satellite container specially built by KARI.
Earlier, a pre-transport review meeting for Arirang 7 was completed on Jul. 23. After arriving at the Guiana Space Center in South America, the satellite will undergo pre-launch preparations, including checks of its condition, fueling, and integration with the launch vehicle, and is scheduled to be launched in late Nov. this year on Arianespace's VEGA-C launch vehicle. After liftoff, following initial operations, it is expected to begin providing full-scale high-resolution Earth observation imagery from the first half of next year.
Kim Jin-hee, head of the satellite division at the Korea AeroSpace Administration, said, "Through the Arirang 7 satellite, we will be able to secure higher-resolution imagery in a timely manner than before, which is expected to greatly help both public and private uses such as disaster and calamity response, terrain and ocean monitoring, and environmental and national land management."