It is funded by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), and was launched on 27 September 2003, from Plesetsk Cosmodrome by a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle,[2] into an Earth orbit with a height between 675 and 695 km.

[1][3] STSat-1 is a low-cost KAIST / KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTReC) satellite technology demonstration mission, funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of South Korea, a follow-up mission in the KITSAT program.

The 106 kg satellite carries a special UV imaging spectrograph to monitor gas clouds in the Galaxy.

It will complete a full sky mapping in about a year, by scanning a one-degree strip every day.

Additionally, it may also aim the telescope downward to image auroral displays.