Gyeonggi Province Holds Commemoration Ceremony for 'Gyeonggi Climate Satellite 1,' Publicly Reveals Satellite Position for First Time

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gab-dong] Gyeonggi Province held a climate satellite success commemoration ceremony at the Gyeonggi Provincial Library on the 13th, publicly revealing the transmission/reception results and position of Gyeonggi Climate Satellite 1 for the first time.

Gyeonggi Climate Satellite 1 was launched on November 29 in the early morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, successfully reached its target orbit, and established successful transmission and reception with ground stations.

According to materials released by the province, the Gyeonggi Climate Satellite was positioned near the southern Indian Ocean at approximately 2:30 p.m. on the 13th when the commemoration ceremony began, and passed over Madagascar around 4 p.m., the conclusion of the event.

Over the next three years, Gyeonggi Climate Satellite 1 is scheduled to perform missions including detecting land cover changes in urban areas, farmland, and forests using optical and near-infrared imaging, and monitoring climate disasters such as landslides, wildfires, and floods.

At the commemoration ceremony, following the revelation of satellite transmission/reception results and position, programs were held including △expert (astronomer Lee Myung-hyun) lecture △presentation and award ceremony for Gyeonggi Climate Vibe Coding Hackathon winners △experience programs for 'Ten Missions to Protect Earth.'

The 'Climate Vibe Coding Hackathon' held that day attracted 113 teams that developed web services utilizing AI collaborative coding combining climate data and satellite imagery.

The event was divided into a general division and an expert division. In the general division, the 'heat stress minimal route recommendation service,' which combined climate platform data on heat waves, temperature, and thermal environment with road networks, won the grand prize. This is a service that protects mobile workers such as delivery personnel and delivery riders by recommending routes with less heat wave exposure.

In the expert division, the 'AI Our Neighborhood Climate Prescription' service won the grand prize. This service analyzes satellite imagery from Gyeonggi Province's 31 cities and counties and climate vulnerability items by eup, myeon, and dong, providing customized climate prescriptions. When users select an area on a map, AI comprehensively analyzes green space density, flood risk, solar potential, and more to display the climate prescription.

The award-winning projects will undergo a review process before being provided to residents as actual services.

At the space experience zone set up in the Gyeonggi Provincial Library Planet Gyeonggi Hall, ten types of diverse experience programs operated under 'Ten Missions to Protect Earth,' including spacesuit experience, creating your own Earth song, and climate and space board game zones.

Vice Governor Ko Young-in said at the ceremony, "The success of the Gyeonggi Climate Satellite, in which private sector technology is combined, will not only provide various information but also create fertile ground for Korea's space startup technology to continuously advance," and added, "Today was a time to confirm the position and status of the climate satellite, but in the future, we will be able to confirm what changes the climate satellite will bring to our lives through data."

Government agencies including the Korea Aerospace Administration, the Korea Meteorological Administration's National Meteorological Satellite Center, and the National Geographic Information Institute's National Satellite Center also attended the ceremony. Park Jang-han, Director of Aerospace Services Development, representing Korea Aerospace Administration Director Yoon Young-bin, stated, "The Gyeonggi Climate Satellite is a satellite that aligns with government policy, and we will continue to actively cooperate with local governments including Gyeonggi Province to accelerate Korea's new space era," and added, "We congratulate the successful launch of the Gyeonggi Climate Satellite and hope today's achievement becomes an opportunity to further brighten the future of Korea's space industry."