CAS-4 (Compact Advanced Satellite 4), a satellite specialized in observing the Korean Peninsula's agriculture and forests from space, has successfully made its first contact after launch. The government said the satellite is in good condition and has normally settled into orbit.
The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), the Rural Development Administration, and the Korea Forest Service said CAS-4 was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 4:12 p.m. Sunday. The satellite separated from the launch vehicle at an altitude of about 888 kilometers approximately two and a half hours after launch, and made its first contact with the Svalbard ground station in Norway at 7:05 p.m.
"Contact timed to when the satellite passes over the Korean Peninsula is expected to occur around 11 p.m. Korean time on the 7th," a government official said.
CAS-4 is an agriculture-forestry satellite with an observation width of 120 kilometers and a resolution of 5 meters. It will photograph the entire nation on a three-day cycle, producing image information needed for crop forecasting, agricultural disaster response, and forest disaster monitoring.
Notably, this satellite was developed under private-sector leadership using the standard platform secured during the development of CAS-1 and CAS-2. Given that industry led everything from satellite design to manufacturing, testing, and verification, it is evaluated as a case that has elevated the capabilities of Korea's satellite development industry.
Lee Seung-don, head of the Rural Development Administration, said, "This success is an important turning point in which our agriculture leaps beyond experience and intuition into data-based precision agriculture." He added, "We will further advance crop forecasting and agricultural disaster response by combining satellite imagery with artificial intelligence (AI)."
The Korea Forest Service also plans to actively use satellite information in responding to forest disasters such as wildfires and landslides. Park Eun-sik, head of the Korea Forest Service, said, "We will realize scientific forest management amid the climate crisis," calling it "a new starting point that will lead the digital and AI transformation of forestry administration."
Oh Tae-seok, head of the Korea AeroSpace Administration, stressed, "CAS-4 is an achievement that expanded private-sector-led satellite development capabilities based on a 500-kilogram-class standard platform." He added, "By independently securing image information needed for responding to agriculture, forestry, climate, and disasters, we have strengthened the nation's satellite information utilization capabilities."
