South Korea launches its first spy satellite with SpaceX

(Patria) - A SpaceX rocket launched South Korea's first military spy satellite on Friday, intensifying the space race on the peninsula after Pyongyang launched its first military eye in the sky last week, AFP reported.

Seoul's reconnaissance satellite, carried by one of Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:19 AM local time. The rocket was decorated with the word "KOREA".

The Yohnap news agency reported that the satellite reached orbit shortly thereafter and that communication was successfully established with ground control. Citing South Korea's Ministry of Defense, Yonhap reported that "the satellite was placed into orbit approximately four minutes after launch at 10:19 AM, and it managed to communicate with the ground station at 11:37 AM, meaning it is operating normally".

Reaching orbit would mean South Korea has acquired its first domestic spy satellite to monitor nuclear-armed North Korea. Seoul plans to launch four additional spy satellites by the end of 2025 to strengthen its reconnaissance capabilities over North Korea.

Placed in orbit between 400 and 600 kilometers above the Earth, Seoul's satellite is capable of detecting an object as small as 30 centimeters, Yonhap reports.

"Considering its resolution and its Earth observation capabilities... our satellite technology ranks among the top five in the world," a Ministry of Defense official said, as quoted by Yonhap.

The launch comes less than two weeks after Pyongyang successfully placed a spy satellite into orbit. Since last week's launch, Pyongyang has claimed that its new eye in the sky has already provided images of major US and South Korean military sites, as well as photos of Italy's capital Rome, but has yet to show any satellite imagery it claims to possess. The launch of the "Malligyong-1" rocket was Pyongyang's third attempt to place such a satellite into orbit, following two failures in May and August. Seoul said Pyongyang received technical assistance from Moscow in exchange for supplying weapons for use in Russia's war with Ukraine.