KOMPSAT-3

KOMPSAT-3, also known as Arirang-3, is a South Korean multipurpose Earth observation satellite. It was launched from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan at 16:39 UTC on 17 May 2012. Like the earlier KOMPSAT-1 and KOMPSAT-2 satellites, it takes its name from the popular Korean folk song Arirang. Its launch was the culmination of a project begun in 1995.
KOMPSAT-3 orbits at a height of, circling the Earth 14 times per day, and is expected to maintain that orbit for 4 years. It weighs. The satellite carries an Advanced Earth Imaging Sensor System, which can distinguish to a 70-cm resolution, allowing the identification of individual vehicles on the ground.
The satellite was succeeded by KOMPSAT-5 and KOMPSAT-3A, which were launched on 2013 and 2015 respectively.

History

South Korea started the KOMPSAT programme in 1995 to nurture its national Earth-imaging industry and supply services for remote-sensing applications. The South Korean KOMPSAT-3 Earth-imaging satellite was developed by Korea Aerospace Industries and Korea Aerospace Research Institute, in partnership with EADS Astrium, to assure continuity with the KOMPSAT-2 satellite launched in 2006. KOMPSAT-3 was orbited on 17 May 2012 by a launch vehicle from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. SI Imaging Services is the worldwide exclusive distributor of KOMPSAT imagery since November 2012.

Technologies

Orbit

KOMPSAT-3 operates in a near-polar, circular Sun-synchronous orbit. The orbital parameters are:

Mean altitude: 685.1 km
Mass: 980 kg
Inclination: 98.13°
Orbital period: 98.5 minutes
Orbital cycle: 28 days
Instruments

KOMPSAT-3's instruments are designed to acquire high- and very-high-resolution imagery with a footprint of 16.8 km. The satellite has the capacity to acquire 20 minutes of imagery on each orbit and it can steer its sensors both ways out to 30° off track. Panchromatic and multispectral images can be acquired at the same time.
KOMPSAT-3 radiometer features:

mode	Channel	Spectral band	Spatial resolution	Footprint
Multispectral	1	0.45 - 0.52 μm	2.8 m	16.8 km
	2	0.52 - 0.60 μm	2.8 m	16.8 km
	3	0.63 - 0.69μm	2.8 m	16.8 km
	4	0.76 - 0.90 μm	2.8 m	16.8 km
Panchromatic	P	0.50 - 0.90 μm	70 cm	16.8 km

Ground receiving stations

Two receiving stations deliver KOMPSAT-3 imagery 1 to 3 days after acquisition. The Deajeon station in South Korea is responsible for tasking the satellite.

Advantages and applications of KOMPSAT-3 imagery

KOMPSAT-3 is designed for very-high-resolution remote-sensing applications, such as:

Land planning: to detect and identify features smaller than 1 square meter, e.g. vehicles, street furnishings, roads and bushes
Agriculture: to pinpoint crop or tree diseases
Urban planning and demographics: to locate detached houses
Civil engineering: to plan road, railroad and oil pipeline corridors
Defence: to describe high-value assets or military sites
South Korea

It serves along with the existing Kompsat-2 to provide continuous satellite observation of the Korean Peninsula, sending images twice a day at 01:30 and 13:30.