Introduction of COMS-1 Program and its System Aspects

Seong-Bong Choi

Korea Aerospace Research Institute

P.O Box 113, Yu-Sung Teajon, 305-600, Korea

Phone: 82-42-860-2460,   E-mail: sbchoi@kari.re.kr

In this paper, Korea’s first geostationary Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellte(COMS) program is introduced.  COMS-1 program is one of the Korea National Space Programs to develop and operate a pure civilian satellite of practical-use for the compound missions of meteorological observation and ocean monitoring, and space test of experimentally developed communication payload on the geostationary orbit. The target launch of COMS-1 is scheduled at the end of 2008.  COMS-1 program is international cooperation program between KARI and EADS Astrium and funded by Korean Government.

COMS-1 satellite is a hybrid satellite in the geostationary orbit, which accommodates multiple payloads of MI(Meteorological Imager), GOCI(Geostationary Ocean Color Imager), and the Ka band Satellite Communication Payload into a single spacecraft platform. The platform and GOCI payload will be delivered by EADS Astrium, which have the heritages of E3000 satellite platform and SEVIRI payload, respectively.  On the other hand, MI payload will be delivered by ITT of U.S. and Ka band payload by domestic supplier.  The MI mission is to continuously extract meteorological products with high resolution and multi-spectral imager, to detect special weather such as storm, flood, yellow sand, and to extract data on long-term change of sea surface temperature and cloud.  The GOCI mission aims at monitoring of marine environments around Korean peninsula, production of fishery information (Chlorophyll, etc.), and monitoring of long-term/short-term change of marine ecosystem.  The goals of the Ka band satellite communication mission are to in-orbit verify the performances of advanced communication technologies and to experiment wide-band multi-media communication service. 

In the ground segment of the COMS-1, there will be the Meteorological/Ocean Data Application Center(MODAC) as a primary Data Processing Center(DPC) which will receive raw image data, generate calibrated image data as well as extracted products and distribute processed data(HRIT/LRIT) through the spacecraft. The spacecraft operation and monitoring will be performed at the satellite operation center (SOC). The SOC will have also back-up functions of the DPC to provide against emergency situations of the primary DPC. The SOC and the MODAC will be connected through exclusive lines for the data transmission. The Communication System Monitoring Center (CSMC) will monitor RF signals to check the status of Ka-band communication system.