Malligyong-1

Malligyong-1 (, meaning Telescope-1) is a type of North Korean reconnaissance satellite. It is North Korea's first spy satellite. It is in a sun-synchronous orbit at about 500 km altitude, and will provide a global optical imaging surveillance capability of several countries. The resolution of the imaging capability is not generally known.

The mission's first two launch attempts failed, with the third one succeeding on 21 November 2023. This was also the first successful flight of North Korea's new launch vehicle, the Chollima-1.

First attempt
The first launch attempt occurred on 31 May 2023. The second stage of the launch vehicle, Chollima-1, ignited too early into the mission, causing the mission to fail. Evacuation alerts were issued in Seoul and Okinawa Prefecture. The North Korean government quickly announced the launch failure.

The remains crashed into the Yellow Sea and South Korea attempted to salvage the remainder of the rocket, searching a site 200 km off the coast of Eocheongdo. The South Korean Ministry of Defence released an image of a white cylinder, suspected to be a part of the rocket.

North Korea's National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) said it would investigate before conducting a second satellite launch. The White House, Japan, and the UN Secretary-General condemned the launch, citing violations of Security Council resolutions prohibiting the use of ballistic missile technology.

Second attempt
A second launch attempt of the satellite took place on 23 August 2023, again onboard a Chollima-1 launch vehicle. The launch resulted again in a failure with the loss of the satellite, this time caused by an error in the emergency flight termination system during the third-stage flight.

Third attempt
A third launch attempt was initially scheduled to take place in October 2023 but was later moved to November due to some delays in fixing the technical issues that caused the previous failures. The launch took place on 21 November 2023. The South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted its counterpart in the North, the Korean Central News Agency, as saying the satellite had been successfully inserted in the predetermined orbit, resulting in the first successful flight of the Chollima-1 launch vehicle. However, no immediate independent observations could be made. The probe has been confirmed to be in orbit, however, its status is not known.

According to NATA, Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch.

Status
It was asserted on 27 February, 2024 by South Korean Defense Minister, Shin Won-sik that North Korea may launch another satellite in March while there were no signs of Malligyong-1 being operational.

According to Dutch astronomer Marco Langbroek, Malligyong-1 in 18 February has conducted orbit raising maneuvers until February 24 in order to prolong time in orbit along being more circular, this has demonstrated that satellite has on board propulsion and is communicating with ground communication stations in North Korea.

Fourth attempt
A fourth launch attempt of a new satellite, called Malligyong-1-1, took place on 27 May 2024, onboard a new launch vehicle using liquid-oxygen and petroleum propellants. The launch resulted again in a failure with the loss of the satellite.