Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) on Wednesday unveiled Cheollian Satellite 2B, a new geostationary earth orbit satellite to replace the mission of its predecessor Cheollian Satellite 1 in the observation of climate and ocean.

The independently developed satellite 2B will be launched in February next year for a geostationary orbital slot 128.2 degrees east longitude at a target altitude of 36,000km.

The new satellite dedicated to environmental observation will provide a full-scale service including the tracking of air pollutants such as fine dust and ozone, as well as toxic red and green tides in the ocean in real time.

The multipurpose satellite has two cutting-edge sensor units: The Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) to observe the air environment, and the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-2 (GOCI-2) for the ocean environment. It is the world’s first geostationary environmental monitoring satellite equipped with the GEMS. The GEMS satellite is two to three years ahead of similar sensor satellites in development in the United States and Europe, according to KARI.

The GEMS can track 20 types of air pollutants including fine dust, carbon dioxide and ozone in real time, covering a region more than 5,000 kilometers in length and width.

The Cheollian Satellite 2B is also significant for Korea’s independent development of satellite operating software which includes flight and ground control, and observational image processing software, as well as the assembly and testing of two satellites at the same time.

The Chollian 2B is scheduled to be sent into the orbit from French Guiana in February 2020. The life cycle of the satellite is 10 years, longer than its predecessor by three years. The optical resolution is four times sharper than previous sensors used for Cheollian Satellite 1.

By Song Kyung-eun and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]