North Korea’s new Space Science Academy and Space Environmental Testing Base in Pyongyang appears to have reached the final stages of construction, according to NK Pro analysis, over seven years after leader Kim Jong Un initiated the project.

New activity at the site suggests Kim continues to spend significant resources on long-term aerospace plans, which he publicly accelerated in 2022.

It comes as the National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) claimed it conducted a final successful test on Dec. 18 ahead of plans to launch a “military reconnaissance satellite” in or after next April, and as major upgrades began last summer at the country’s Sohae spaceport.

NK Pro has obtained recent ground-level images of the Space Science Academy (SSA, 우주과학연구원), showing signs of finished construction and confirming for the first time its location next to NADA’s Satellite Control Center (SCC, 위성관제종합지휘소) in northwest Pyongyang.

Previous NK Pro analyses placed the Space Environmental Testing Base (SETB, 우주환경시험기지) as likely located in the same complex of buildings, though the new images show signs displaying the SSA name and NADA logo but not the SETB name.

Kim Jong Un said during a May 2015 visit to the then-newly built SCC that NADA needed to build “more cutting-edge facilities for the center,” including “a base where satellite tests can be done in an environment identical to outer space” and buildings with “symbolic” design. 

He mentioned both the SSA and SETB by name during his March 2022 visit to the SCC, where state media only showed him inside the NADA control room but not the other facilities.

The Rodong Sinmun published a detailed article in 2016 saying the SETB would include the following facilities:

• Vibration Test Room (진동시험실)
• Acoustics Laboratory (음향시험실)
• Acceleration Laboratory (가속도시험실)
• Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory (전자기적합성시험실)
• Thermal Vacuum Test Room (열진공시험실)
• Space Materials Laboratory (우주재료시험실)
• Magnetic Field Laboratory (자기마당시험실)
• Spacecraft assembly and test site (우주비행기구의 조립 및 시험장)
• Optical instrument test site (광학기구시험장)
• Mass characteristic test site (질량특성시험장)

It is unclear if establishing such facilities would reduce the need to conduct modified missile launches carrying satellite tech into space for short suborbital tests of satellite cameras and equipment, such as the ones reportedly conducted earlier this month as well as in February and March this year. 

The ground-level images and satellite imagery also do not offer definitive proof that the SSA and SETB are yet operational, though there are signs they are at least getting close. The exteriors of the multistory SSA building and likely SETB buildings appear finished, with glass and decorative elements installed.

These ornate decorations are in keeping with Kim’s “symbolic” design order, such as a large globe with orbiting rings that appears on the roof of the SSA building, as well as a security fence featuring small ringed planets on stone posts and iron bars with a repeating orbiting rocket motif. 

Planet Labs satellite imagery of the complex also shows that its inner courtyard and parking area were paved, landscaped and furnished with propaganda elements such as a possible mosaic mural and stone slogan boards in October.

However, ground images show that a makeshift military construction worker camp on the road next to the site was still active this month. This suggests work remains ongoing at the site even if certain parts of the SSA, SETB or both are active. 

NK Pro previously reported that construction on the complex ramped up this year soon after Kim’s visit to the SCC next door in March.

Construction on the complex kicked off in mid-2017 but faced apparent delays, possibly due to economic sanctions and later the country’s own COVID-19-related trade restrictions that may have prevented the import of highly advanced testing equipment and materials needed for the SETB. 

North Korea has so far sought to offer evidence of its capabilities and push back against outside critics, so it is possible that state media will someday show off the SSA and SETB during another Kim Jong Un visit or other form of coverage. 

Edited by Arius Derr