KOMPSAT-2 COMMERCIAL USER SUPPORT TEAM (KOCUST) - ORGANIZATION AND ITS OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS -

The KOMPSAT-2 was developed by KARI and it was successfully launched from Plesetsk, Russia on 28th July 2006. The Korean government decided the commercialization of the KOMPSAT-2 image data and direct reception services worldwide. SPOT Image, based in Toulouse (France) was selected by KARI through an international open bidding as a foreign company for the KOMPSAT-2 image promotion over the entire world except the territory of Republic of Korea including the North Korea, the United States of America, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. KAI (Korea Aerospace Industry Ltd.) is an engaged Korean company for this area. KARI has responsibility to operate the satellite, data acquisition, archiving for the worldwide commercialization. For the processing and delivery of the KOMPSAT-2 image data to the users of KAI and SPOT Image, KAI has the binding contract with KARI. So KAI has the responsibility for the commercial ground station operation such as user support, data processing, and the data delivery. The KOMPSAT-2 ground station is hosted in KARI, so KARI has developed the concept of KOCUST (KOMPSAT-2 Commercial User Support Team) jointly with KAI to support the data processing and delivery as KOMPSAT-2 developer and satellite operator. The main purpose of the KOCUST is to support the operational activities to provide the data and service quality to satisfy customers. KOCUST will be organized by the members of KARI and KAI together. KARI members will mainly take the role of KOCUST coordination, data processing and user support in a public sector. KAI members are going to take user desk, data validation and delivery et cetera, which are related with users. This paper describes a summarized concepts of KOCUST like organization, dedicated tasks of each part and work flow of daily operation.