22 January 2026 2018, the military-industrial company L3Harris Technologies announced the conclusion of a contract with the Korean aerospace manufacturer LIG Nex1. Under the agreement, L3Harris will supply the core imaging system for the Korea Meteorological Administration's next-generation geostationary weather satellite. 18-channel meteorological imager GEO-KOMPSAT will improve the accuracy and timeliness of forecasts for the Korean Peninsula by identifying spectral signatures of clouds, snow, water humidity and fog.
L3Harris has many years of experience supplying imagers for US weather satellites, Japan and Korea. L3Harris' GeoXO imager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary and Advanced Observing Program received a critical design review in November 2025 year. The L3Harris imager and sounder for the Japan Meteorological Agency's Himawari-10 geostationary weather satellite completed critical design reviews last December. These design reviews confirmed, that the American and Japanese instruments will meet the 10-year service life in orbit and have opened the way to the start of production at the system level.
Although imagers for the USA, Japan and Korea are similar, L3Harris independently selects spectral bands, which each device will observe. In particular, the GEO-KOMPSAT meteorological imager is specially designed for observations, which help meteorologists monitor the development of tropical cyclones and wildfires.
L3Harris positions itself as a company, devoted to orbital technologies, which advance global meteorological capabilities, including improved tracking and characterization of tropical cyclones, extreme rainfall and forest fires. Its technologies provide early detection of potentially dangerous storms and detailed tracking of storm movements, which significantly increases the safety and well-being of communities.
Source: https://spacenews.com