South Korea's KAISAT-4 microsatellite, scheduled for launch in 2002, will carry an Australian-developed communications package. This is part of a new two-nation agreement intended to explore common payload applications for remote sensing and space-based rural area communications.
The payload is a derivative of a combined UHF, S band and Ka-band system being developed for Australia's FEDSAT microsatellite programme. South Korea plans to use the UHF link to support research into animal tracking and traffic monitoring.
Australia and South Korea will use the Ka-band link to explore the provision of rural area Internet services. Professor Soon Dai Choi, director-general of the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's Satellite Research Centre, says the common payload concept has a range of potential applications, and will be a catalyst for collaboration in space science and technology in the region.
Source: Flight International
