South Korea to send cube satellite aboard NASA’s Artemis II test flight

NASA’s Artemis II Orion Spacecraft is currently housed in the Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as of August 8, 2023. A shoebox-size cube satellite from South Korea is set to be flown on an Artemis II test flight in April 2026 to prepare for upcoming moon missions, according to an announcement made by NASA and the Korea AeroSpace Administration on Friday.

NASA’s plan for the test flight includes sending four astronauts around the moon for a 10-day mission, marking the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Originally planned for a 2024 launch, the Artemis II mission involves the mounting of the K-RadCube satellite, developed by South Korean startup Nara Space Technology Inc., onto the Orion stage adapter between the Space Launch System rocket and the crewed Orion spacecraft.

The 42-pound satellite will be tasked with monitoring cosmic radiation levels and assessing their impact on astronauts as it navigates through the Van Allen radiation belts situated more than 2,200 miles above Earth. NASA highlighted that CubeSat payloads provide a cost-effective means to expand knowledge of space environments and enhance hardware development for space missions.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute expressed their expectations for closer collaboration between their organization and NASA in the realm of deep space exploration. The data collected by the K-RadCube satellite will be made publicly accessible, aiding in the understanding of high-risk space environments and the importance of conducting experiments in actual geostationary orbit.

NASA has been actively engaging in international partnerships as part of its Artemis campaign, with agreements already in place for collaboration with the German Space Agency DLR and Japan. The agency’s goal is to land humans on the moon during the Artemis III mission by mid-2027. NASA’s commitment to cooperation and advancement in space exploration was underscored by meetings between agency officials and counterparts from South Korea and other nations.