[Exclusive] Fourfold Increase in Satellites Over Korean Peninsula Airspace... "Low Earth Orbit Satellites Cannot Monitor"

Fourfold Increase in Passing Satellites Over the Past 5 Years
Virtually No Radio Monitoring Equipment for Low Earth Orbit Satellites
Rep. Park Chandae "Measures Needed for Collision, Fall, and Security"

Recently, the launch of low Earth orbit satellites for space internet services such as Elon Musk's Starlink has surged. The airspace over the Korean Peninsula has become very complex, with the number of passing satellites increasing fourfold in the past five years. However, it was pointed out that South Korea currently has no radio wave monitoring system for low Earth orbit satellites and needs to establish countermeasures.

On the 27th, Park Chan-dae, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee (Incheon Yeonsu-gap, Democratic Party), cited the 'Annual Satellite Radio Wave Monitoring Status' from the Central Radio Management Office under the Ministry of Science and ICT to make this claim. First, the number of satellites passing over the Korean Peninsula has rapidly increased in recent years. The number of non-geostationary satellites under management was ▲2,070 in 2019 ▲3,194 in 2020 ▲4,407 in 2021 ▲6,482 in 2022 ▲8,187 as of September 2023, nearly quadrupling in five years. Most of these were low Earth orbit satellites launched in large numbers for space internet services such as the U.S.'s Starlink and the U.K.'s OneWeb. The number of low Earth orbit satellites passing over the Korean Peninsula was ▲368 in 2019 ▲1,568 in 2020 ▲3,254 in 2021 ▲5,474 in 2022 ▲7,334 as of September 2023, increasing about 20 times in five years.

Therefore, measures are essential to prepare for the possibility of physical collisions or falls between satellites, radio wave interference, and to monitor the activities of hostile satellites. However, government preparedness is insufficient. In August 2002, the Satellite Radio Wave Monitoring Center was established under the Central Radio Management Office, making South Korea the fifth country in the world capable of satellite radio wave monitoring. Since then, additional monitoring stations for mobile satellite radio wave monitoring and non-geostationary satellite radio wave monitoring have been added, and currently, six satellite monitoring stations operate: two for geostationary satellites and four for non-geostationary satellites.

The problem is that there is virtually no monitoring means for low Earth orbit satellite communications, whose numbers have recently surged. Among the six satellite monitoring stations, only Monitoring Station 5 can monitor the Ku-band frequencies used for low Earth orbit satellite communications, but even that is limited. It was not originally built for low Earth orbit satellite monitoring, so it is difficult to monitor the 'beamforming technology' that transmits radio waves divided into nationwide cells used by low Earth orbit communication satellites. The other three monitoring stations for non-geostationary satellites operate on entirely different frequency bands, making low Earth orbit satellite monitoring impossible. Although the government is promoting the establishment of a dedicated monitoring system, the current situation is far from complete. The Ministry of Science and ICT only stated, "Considering the domestic introduction of low Earth orbit satellite services, the number of satellite launches, and subscriber trends, we plan to promote the establishment of a system capable of nationwide monitoring from 2025 on a mid- to long-term basis."

Assemblyman Park said, "We must secure a radio wave monitoring system for satellites passing over the Korean Peninsula and a stabilization system to prevent collisions with our satellites," adding, "During the preparation process for establishing the Space Aviation Agency, it is necessary to review tasks related to international issues such as satellite collisions and radio wave interference, and expand the organization and budget beyond the existing plan to enable inter-ministerial responses."