KT SAT said on Feb. 2 it will participate in the K-RadCube project, a South Korean CubeSat that will be launched together with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) crewed lunar exploration project Artemis 2.
Artemis 2 is a mission in which the Orion spacecraft carrying 4 astronauts flies around the moon and returns to Earth. South Korea is taking part as an international partner and will carry and launch K-RadCube. The satellite will collect data such as space radiation from a highly elliptical Earth orbit (HEO).
K-RadCube is expected to be the first domestically developed satellite to pass through the Van Allen belts and directly measure radiation, securing basic data to analyse how radiation affects astronauts and spaceborne semiconductor devices and parts.
KT SAT will conduct integrated control and operations covering satellite control and ground-station operations. It will take part in the entire operation process, including telemetry transmission and reception, monitoring satellite status and collecting scientific data based on in-house software, to securely obtain space data.
KT SAT has built an end-to-end integrated operations system to minimise uncertainties that can occur in the space environment and raise the mission success rate. It also linked 5 ground stations worldwide, including in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America, and developed dedicated software in-house for space data analysis.
KT SAT CEO Young-soo Seo (서영수) said, "We will support the mission in a stable manner by taking charge of overall satellite operations and communications throughout K-RadCube's space journey." He added, "We will advance our capabilities in deep-space and non-geostationary-orbit satellite operations and lay the groundwork for participation in global space projects such as lunar and Mars exploration."