SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 20, 2026 - Korea Aerospace Administration chief Oh Tae-seok briefed the Cabinet on Nuri's fifth launch and the agency's plans,^[1] saying KASA will launch at least one rocket a year from next year through 2032.^[2][3] Nuri's fifth flight, earlier in October,^[4] separated all 14 satellites it carried and established initial communications,^[5] bringing the rocket's success rate to 80%.^[6] In 2031, Nuri's 11th mission^[7] is planned to carry four military reconnaissance microsatellites.^[8] Korea aims for two launches a year by 2030,^[9] is choosing between Gwangju and Jeju for a second space centre,^[10] and is speeding up work on a reusable rocket, targeted for 2035.^[11] Impact Insight. A steady launch cadence lets a country replace and expand its satellites on schedule instead of waiting years between flights. The link to planetary defense is indirect: more launch capacity worldwide makes it easier to fly the telescopes and missions that find and study near-Earth objects, while also adding to the traffic in low orbit that must be tracked.