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CAS500 (Compact Advanced Satellite 500) is a series of Earth observation satellites developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).[1][2]

Satellites

Launch of CAS500-1

CAS500-1, (Korean: 국토위성 1호, transl. ”Land Satellite No. 1″), is a prototype 500-kilogram (1,100 lb) class Earth observation satellite that was launched by South Korea at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 22 March 2021.[3][4][5][6] It is in a 500-kilometre (310 mi) Sun-synchronous orbit, inclined by 97.7 degrees or 15 orbits/day.

CAS500-2 was expected to launch in 2022 also on a Russian rocket, but the launch was cancelled after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[7][8][1][9] The satellite was rescheduled to launch together with CAS500-4 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket[10][11][12] and later moved to another Falcon 9 flight which launched on 3 May 2026 at 7:00 UTC.[13][14][15]

CAS500-3 was launched on 26 November 2025 on the South Korean launch vehicle Nuri.[16][17]

References

  1. ^ a b “CAS500 1, 2”. Gunter’s Space Page. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  2. ^ “CAS500 (Compact Advanced Satellite 500) – eoPortal”. www.eoportal.org. Archived from the original on 2024-09-30. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  3. ^ “Compact Advanced Satellite 500”. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  4. ^ “With CAS500, South Korea launches journey toward private-led satellite development”. SpaceNews. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  5. ^ Park, Si-soo. “With CAS500, South Korea launches journey toward private-led satellite development”.
  6. ^ “Soyuz launches commercial satellite cluster”. www.russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  7. ^ “Canceled Russian Rocket Launches for Korean Satellites Spark Controversy, with Critics Warning of ‘Disadvantage’ in Contract Disclosure”. m.dongascience.com. 2022-09-30. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  8. ^ Si-soo, Park (2022-03-02). “Russian sanctions throw South Korean satellite missions into uncertainty”. SpaceNews. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  9. ^ “Launch of Space Weather Satellite ‘Doyosat’ Unlikely This Year; Arirang 6, CAS500-2 Also Face ‘Uncertain’ Future”. m.dongascience.com. 2022-05-02. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  10. ^ “SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to send two KAI satellites into space”. koreajoongangdaily.joins.com. 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  11. ^ “CAS500-2 & CAS500-4 4 – Space launch mission information”. www.spacerealm.live. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  12. ^ Jones, Caleb. “Falcon 9 Block 5 | CAS500-2 & CAS500-4”. Space Launch Now. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  13. ^ “CAS500-2 MISSION”. SpaceX. Retrieved 2026-04-26.
  14. ^ Piccin, Stefano (2026-05-03). “In orbita altri 7 satelliti della costellazione HEO di IRIDE”. AstroSpace (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  15. ^ “SpaceX sends 45 satellites to orbit in nighttime launch from California (video)”. Space. 2026-05-02. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  16. ^ Mike Wall (2025-11-26). “South Korea launches Earth-observation satellite on homegrown Nuri rocket”. Space. Retrieved 2025-11-27.
  17. ^ “CAS500 3”. Gunter’s Space Page. Retrieved 2025-11-27.