South Korea plans to launch five homegrown spy satellites atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket by 2025, according to a Korean news agency Yonhap report.
According to the report, the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) have signed a contract with SpaceX to use its rocket and enter five satellites into low Earth orbit from the United States.
AeroTime has asked KARI for a comment.
The launch of the first 800-kilogram electro-optical infrared satellite is expected to take place by the end of 2023, with the remaining satellites following by the end of 2025.
It is not the first time South Korea has hired the US private aerospace manufacturer and provider of space transportation SpaceX to carry out a mission. In 2020, South Korea launched its communications satellite, the Anasis-II, atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.