ROME, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Thales Alenia Space reports its synthetic aperture radar was launched into space Thursday aboard South Korea's Kompsat-5 Earth observation satellite.
The satellite, which will primarily be involved in environmental monitoring of the Korean peninsula, was launched from the Dombarovsky Launch Site, Yasny, Russia.
"Kompsat-5 clearly shows that the expertise we have built up over the years in advanced observation system, from ERS to COSMO-SkyMed, has made Thales Alenia Space a world leader in space technology and systems engineering," said Massimo Di Lazzaro, executive vice president, Observation, Exploration and Navigation, at Thales Alenia Space.
Thales Alenia Space developed the SAR payload system under contract to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and following its delivery was involved in all satellite assembly, integration and testing operations prior to launch.
The company was also responsible for the design and development of the X-band payload, based on SAR technology, for high-resolution imaging of the Earth and the data-link subsystem to transmit the images.
