Nuriho 4th Launch to Carry Cube Satellites for Space Pharmaceuticals and Satellite Disposal Tests

Six Secondary Payload Satellites Selected Ahead of Next Year's Launch

The Korea Aerospace Administration and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced on the 11th that they have selected six secondary payload satellites to be onboard the Nuri rocket's 4th launch next year through a public competition.

The Nuri rocket's 4th launch, scheduled for the second half of 2025, will carry the primary payload, the Next-Generation Medium Satellite 3, along with six CubeSats (three 3U and three 6U) developed by domestic industries and research institutions. One unit (1U) is a cube measuring 10 cm in width, length, and height.

Among the selected secondary payload satellites, the 6U CubeSats include SpaceLinTec's 'BEE-1000', aimed at space pharmaceutical experiments; Hancom InSpace's 'Sejong 4', intended for public-use multispectral imaging; and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute's 'ETRISat', for Pre-6G IoT-NTN payload technology verification. The 3U CubeSats selected are SpaceLotech's 'COSMIC', which aims to test satellite disposal devices and verify components for space exploration, and CosmoWorks' 'JACK 3' and 'JACK 4', designed for Earth observation image acquisition.

SpaceLinTec's satellite aims to secure related data for space pharmaceuticals through a low Earth orbit protein crystal growth platform space demonstration. To this end, it will carry a protein crystal growth module.

SpaceLotech's satellite's mission is to verify core technologies for space traffic management, effectively testing satellite disposal devices. It plans to carry components such as a rover motor driver and an OBC for space exploration.

In the Nuri rocket's 3rd launch last May, along with the primary payload, seven secondary payload satellites were selected through a public competition and launched, including the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute's ToyoSat (four 6U units), Lumir's LUMIR-T1 (one 6U unit), Kairospace's KSAT3U (one 3U unit), and Justec's JAC (one 3U unit).

For the Nuri rocket's 4th launch, in addition to the six selected CubeSats, CubeSats developed by domestic universities selected through the '2022 CubeSat Competition' and domestically produced component verification satellites developed by KARI to verify domestic components and parts will also be launched as secondary payloads.