A series of South Korean mini-satellites launched as part of a space program initiated in 1995 by KARI to obtain high-resolution imagery of the Korean Peninsula and its biological ocean environment. Satellite development involved assistance from several independent Korean companies/institutions, as well as TRW Aeronautical in the United States. KOMPSAT-1 launched aboard a Taurus booster on 20 December 1999 and was successfully placed into a Sun-synchronous circular polar orbit; KARI lost track of the spacecraft on 30 December 2007, ending its operational life, five years after its design life of three years. There have been four additional launches of these mini-satellites from 2006; the latest, KOMPSAT-5, was launched on 22 August 2013 on a Dnepr-1 rocket from the Dombarovsky Launch Site. The satellite was placed in a Sun-synchronous near-circular orbit at a mean altitude of 550 km. KOMPSAT-5 carries a Synthetic Aperture Radar payload system to provide imagery for geographic information applications and to monitor environmental disasters.