Military to Launch Military Reconnaissance Satellite No. 2 on the 8th [Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club]

The military authorities will launch the second military reconnaissance satellite on the 8th. A total of five reconnaissance satellites are planned to be launched by next year. With this, our military will have the capability to conduct reconnaissance of specific locations in North Korea every two hours.

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On the 5th, a military official stated, "The launch will take place at 8:17 a.m. Korean time on the 8th from the Kennedy SpaceX Center in the United States," adding, "Like the first satellite, it will be launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9, an American space company’s rocket."

The first reconnaissance satellite, launched in December last year, was equipped with electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) imaging devices. Its mission performance can be limited on days with heavy cloud cover. In contrast, the second reconnaissance satellite is equipped with a high-performance synthetic aperture radar (SAR). SAR satellites emit electromagnetic waves toward ground targets and create images by synthesizing the reflected signal data, allowing observation regardless of weather conditions. The third to fifth reconnaissance satellites, scheduled for launch by next year, will also be SAR satellites.

The first reconnaissance satellite, currently orbiting normally in space, is reported to have recently transmitted satellite images of central Pyongyang to the ground. The military plans to operationalize about 40 ultra-small satellites weighing less than 100 kg by 2030, reducing the revisit cycle over the Korean Peninsula to within 30 minutes. Once all reconnaissance satellites begin normal operations, the military’s independent surveillance capabilities to track the movements of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other top officials, as well as North Korean military activities, are expected to be significantly enhanced.

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