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Asia’s space race is intensifying with South Korea set to launch its first home-grown military satellite mounted on a SpaceX rocket, while the North claims it has carried out successful
tests of solid-fuel engines for a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM). Advertisement Seoul has hinted at growing geopolitics that have extended into orbit, noting its partnership
with the United States would form a “space alliance” yielding military and economic security, as well as technological advancement. Analysts also point to an uptick in military satellite
launches in Asia, noting the spillover effect would be in the development of commercial space technologies that would drive domestic markets for the sector. The launch by South Korea in
tandem with billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX marks the first of five domestic spy satellites Seoul plans to put into orbit by 2025, to form its own space surveillance system over North Korea,
breaking from past tradition of total reliance on US spy satellites to monitor its rival. The South Korean spy satellite will be carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from
California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base on November 30, according to its defence ministry. Lee Choon-geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy
Institute, said American spy satellites produced much higher-resolution imagery but were operated under the US’ strategic objectives. Advertisement He said the US sometimes did not share
satellite photos containing highly sensitive information with South Korea.