KAI launches CAS500-4, South Korea's first agriculture and forestry satellite
Korea Aerospace Industries
KAI launched CAS500-4, South Korea's first satellite dedicated to agriculture and forestry monitoring.
what happened
Korea Aerospace Industries launched the CAS500-4 satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter-17 rideshare from Vandenberg on July 7, with first contact established via the Svalbard ground station, per The Elec and Korea Times. The 500-kilogram-class satellite carries a domestically developed wide-area camera with 5-meter resolution and a 120-kilometer swath, built with a total R&D budget of 116 billion won (about $77 million) since 2019, and is expected to enter full operational service in the first half of 2027 after calibration.
why it matters
CAS500-4 is the fourth of South Korea's planned five-satellite medium EO constellation and its first satellite built specifically for agriculture and forestry monitoring, work KAI's CEO said supports growing the company's satellite exports and space-services business. It extends KAI's role as prime contractor on Korea's sovereign EO program, a track record it can point to when bidding for other countries' EO contracts.
for who
Agricultural and forestry-monitoring resellers, sovereign EO program bidders
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Korea Aerospace Industries
- Category
- constellation
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-07-07
- Published
- 2026-07-12 06:24 UTC