South Korea started the KOMPSAT programme in 1995 to nurture its national Earth-imaging industry and supply services for remote-sensing applications. The South Korean KOMPSAT-2 Earth-imaging satellite was developed by KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute), in partnership with EADS Astrium, to assure continuity with the KOMPSAT-1 satellite launched in 1999. KOMPSAT-2 was orbited on 28 July 2006 by a Rockot launcher from Plessetsk, Russia.