South Korea deploys 14 satellites in first launch of 2026

Written by: Jeff Gardner

South Korea achieved its first orbital launch of the year when a Nuri rocket took off from the nation’s Naro Space Center on Tuesday, Oct. 6. The mission carried 15 satellites into orbit, successfully deploying 14. This is the fifth launch of the nation’s Nuri rocket family since 2021.

“Nuri successfully completed its fifth mission by executing all planned flight procedures as intended,” the Korea Aerospace Research Institute reported. “This fifth launch has further enhanced Nuri’s capabilities in space transport missions, specifically the ability to precisely place multiple satellites into orbit in a single launch.”

Growing capabilities

Nuri successfully deployed its primary payload, five “Micro-cluster Satellites”, into low Earth orbit. These satellites constitute numbers two through six of South Korea’s growing New-space Earth Observation Satellite Constellation for National Safety (NEONSAT) network. The first satellite in the NEONSAT constellation launched in 2024. Numbers seven through 11 are planned to launch in 2027.

The constellation will monitor the Korean Peninsula and adjacent waters for national security and disaster response purposes.

Additionally, the rocket successfully deployed nine out of 10 CubeSats. One CubeSat, PERSAT-02  developed by South Korean company Quaternion, failed to deploy from the rocket.

This launch saw Nuri’s first deployment of multiple satellites of the same type, a key capability for establishing large constellations.

“The successful deployment of the satellite constellation demonstrated (South Korea’s) more advanced space transportation capability, enabling a range of missions to be carried out in line with customers’ desired orbits and schedules,” said Korea AeroSpace Association Administrator Oh Tae-seok.

Global launch pace aims toward record

The South Korean launch was the 240th orbital launch attempt worldwide in 2026, helping push toward another record. By Oct. 7, 2025, the world’s space efforts had notched 234 launches on the way to a record 324.

In 2025, the global space industry rallied for the record in the last three months of year. That year, the planet recorded a launch every 27 hours, nearly an hour ahead of the 2026 pace to date.

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