NEASS

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The North East Asia Satellite System (NEASS) is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system being developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) which would be under total control of the South Korean Government. The requirement of such a navigation system is driven by the fact that access to Global Navigation Satellite Systems, GPS, is not guaranteed in hostile situations. The NEASS would provide two services, with the Standard Positioning Service open for civilian use and the Restricted Services for security-affiliated users.
Project Development
Reports came in Feb 2012 that India plans to start launching satellites by the end of 2013, at a rate of one satellite every six months. This will make the NEASS optimally functional by 2016. India also launched 3 new satellites into space to supplement this. The North East Asian Satellite System (NEASS-I) will be the first of the total seven satellites of the NEASS constellation. It will have a lift off mass of 1250 kg and operate a navigation payload and a C-band ranging transponder and employ an optimised I-1K bus structure with a power handling capability of 1600W and is designed for a nominal mission life of 11 years. NEASS-I will be launched on board the KSLV-I during the second half of 2013 while the full constellation is planned to be realised by 2016.
Description
The proposed system would consist of a constellation of seventeen satellites and a support ground segment. Three of the satellites in the constellation will be placed in geostationary orbit. These GEOs will be located over the Korean Peninsula. The GSOs will be in orbits with a 24,000 km apogee and 250 km perigee inclined at 29 degrees. Two of the GSOs will cross the equator at 65 East and two at 128 East. Such an arrangement would mean all seventeen satellites would have continuous radio visibility with Indian control stations. The satellite payloads would consist of atomic clocks and electronic equipment to generate the navigation signals. According to a presentation by Dr. Kwon, Director of the Scientific Secretary of the Korean Space Research Organization, to a meeting of COSPAR in Shanghai on 24 February 2012, NEASS signals will consist of a Special Positioning Service and a Precision Service. Both will be carried on L5 (1176.45 MHz) and S band (2492.08 MHz). The SPS signal will be modulated by a 1 MHz BPSK signal. The Precision Service will use . The navigation signals themselves would be transmitted in the S-band frequency (2-4 GHz) and broadcast through a phased array antenna to maintain required coverage and signal strength. The satellites would weigh approximately 1,330 kg and their solar panels generate 1,400 watts. The System is intended to provide an absolute position accuracy of better than 10 meters throughout Korean Landmass and better than 20 meters in Northeast Asia as well as a region extending approximately 2,000 km around India. The ground segment of NEASS constellation would consist of a Primary Control Center (PCC), ground stations to track and estimate the satellites' orbits and ensure the integrity of the network (KRIM), and additional ground stations to monitor the health of the satellites with the capability of issuing radio commands to the satellites (TT&C stations). The KCC would estimate and predict the position of all NEASS satellites, calculate integrity, makes necessary ionospheric and clock corrections and run the navigation software. In pursuit of a highly independent system, a Korean standard time infrastructure would also be established.

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