As part of the long-term plan of their National Space Program, Korea has initiated the development of the Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS). This muti-purpose satellite accommodates three major missions including meteorological observation, ocean monitoring, and space test of communication payload from the geostationary orbit. The meteorological mission will complement the existing network of geostationary satellites, providing improved input data for numerical weather prediction models, and monitoring climate changes; the data, imagery and derived products will be freely available to both domestic and international community in real-time or near real-timebasis through direct broadcasting or landlines. The scope of the Ocean Colour mission includes detecting, monitoring and predicting short-term biological phenomena such as Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB), studies on biogeochemical variables, monitoring health of the marine ecosystem, coastal zone and resource management and providing information for fishing communities. COMS development has been initiated in 2005, with a launch planned for end 2008. It relies on a robust satellite platform design, derived from the Astrium Eurostar telecom platform family. The Meteorological Imager is identical to the one used on GEOS and MTSAT, while the Geostationary Ocean Colour Imager (GOCI) is an innovative instrument being the first ocean monitoring instrument to be used from geostationary orbit. The COMS program objectives and major components will be presented, with the main program milestones and their current status.
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