The Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST, President Kim Woong-seo) held a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Ocean Satellite Operation Building at the KIOST headquarters in Busan on the morning of July 27, 2019. The event was attended by a total of 30 representatives from various institutions, including the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency (KHOA), and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), and executives and staff from KIOST’s Korea Ocean Satellite Center. Preventive measures against COVID-19 were in place and adhered to by everyone attending the event.

 The Ocean Satellite Operation Building is dedicated to the operation of the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager II (GOCI-II) that is installed on the Cheollian-2B satellite, which was launched in February 2020. The building comprises a single ground floor covering 200 pyeong (total floor area of 571 square meters) and is located within the premises of KIOST. The building consists of a computer room, situation room, data processing room , and emergency facilities for the operation of the satellite, and an antenna for receiving signals from the satellite (featuring a radome with a diameter of 12 meters, shown in Photo 1) has been installed next to the building.

For the past 10 years, the KIOST Ocean Satellite Center has operated the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI), the first of its kind in the world, installed on Cheollian-1, which was launched in June 2010, and, until the operation of GOCI is terminated in March 2021, both GOCI and GOCI-II will be operated from the Ocean Satellite Operation Building. The ocean observatory information transmitted by GOCI-II will be received by the ground antenna and used to produce analysis results and research data, while the Ocean Satellite Center formulates various ways of utilizing the data, such as by sharing it with related institutions, including the KHOA, National Meteorological Satellite Center, and National Institute of Environmental Research, thus contributing to the good of the public.

KIOST President Kim commented, “We are committed to producing valuable data at the Ocean Satellite Operation Building, not only by utilizing the basic data collected and transmitted by the satellites, but also by actively developing new convergence technologies.”