Universities, an institute and a few start-ups
South Korea owns 79 active satellites as of October 17, 2026, 0.5% of the world total and the ninth largest national fleet. Earth imaging is the biggest category with 37, then technology demonstrations with 26. Only 8 are communications satellites.
Of the 79, 62 (78%) fly in the lowest orbital band, 8 are in geosynchronous orbit and 7 in the upper low band. That puts the country firmly in the small-satellite age.
The fleet has grown fast. South Korea had 6 payloads in orbit at the end of 2005 and 72 at the end of 2025, a rise of 12 times. The same comparison for Japan is 2.5 times and for India 3.6 times. Launches are a different story. South Korea has made ten launch attempts in all, and 38 of its 79 active satellites flew on South Korean rockets, 29 on American rockets, 5 on rockets credited to France and 4 on Russian rockets.
What they do
Earth imaging accounts for 37 of South Korea's active satellites (47%).
Where they orbit
Who operates them
The largest operators, and the largest families of satellites, owned by South Korea.
By operator
By satellite family
Operator names are as written in GCAT, usually transliterated from the original language. Families group satellites by the first word of their name.
How the fleet has grown
At the end of 2005, South Korea had 6 payloads in Earth orbit. By the end of 2025 it had 72.
Launches
South Korea has made 10 orbital launch attempts since its first in 2009, and 2 of them in 2025. Its busiest year was 2023 with 2.
Who owns them
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, listed as KAIST, is the largest operator in the table with 15 satellites. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute, KARI, is next with 12. KARI was founded on October 10, 1989, and its KOMPSAT-1 satellite, also called Arirang-1, launched in December 1999.
After them come Cosmoworks with 6, SNU with 5, DAPA with 5 and Nara Space with 4. The family names add flavour: Neonsat has 7, JACK has 6 and Arirang has 5. These are labels as GCAT writes them.
Three tries to get Naro-1 into orbit
South Korea's first orbital rocket, Naro-1, failed on both of its first two flights, on August 25, 2009 and June 10, 2010, and reached orbit on the third, on January 30, 2013. GCAT's log now holds 10 South Korean attempts.
The heavier rocket is Nuri, made by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and launched from the Naro Space Center. Nuri has flown five times: the first flight on October 21, 2021 failed, and the four that followed, on June 21, 2022, May 25, 2023, November 26, 2025 and October 7, 2026, all succeeded.
Private rockets and a test vehicle
GCAT also logs a launch vehicle named ADD TV2 flying from Jeju on December 4, 2023. Innospace, a private company based in Sejong City and founded in September 2017, flew its test vehicle HANBIT-TLV on March 21, 2023 from Alcantara, Brazil, the first launch by South Korea's private sector. Its Hanbit-Nano rocket flew from Alcantara in Brazil on December 23, 2025 and failed to reach orbit.
In 2025 South Korea launched 2 times, 1 successfully, and in 2026 it had 1 through October 16, 2026, the Nuri flight. Compare that with Japan's 4 in 2025, or with the Rocket Lab flights that carry many small satellites for other countries.
Where it ranks
South Korea's 79 is one more than India's 78 and well below Japan's 143. Earth imaging is 47% of the fleet, a larger share than in Japan, where it is 40%.
The country is a small-satellite owner more than a launcher, and its launch count of ten against 145 for Japan shows it.
Beyond Earth orbit
South Korea's Moon orbiter, Danuri, launched in 2022. It isn't an Earth satellite, so it sits on the Moon missions page and not in this table.
For India, which has a similar number of satellites and a larger launch record, see India.