The first Korean satellite laser ranging (SLR) system, Daedeok SLR station (DAEK station) was developed by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) in 2012, whose main objectives are space geodesy researches. In consequence, Korea became the 25th country that operates SLR system supplementing the international laser tracking network. The DAEK station is designed to be capable of 2 kHz laser ranging with precision of a few mm both in daytime and nighttime observation of satellites with laser retro-reflector array (LRA) up to the altitude of 25,000 km. In this study, characteristics and specifications of DAEK station are investigated and its data quality is evaluated and compared with International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) stations in terms of single-shot ranging precision. The analysis results demonstrated that the DAEK station shows good ranging performance to a few mm precision. Currently, the DAEK station is under normal operations at KASI headquarters, however, it will be moved to Sejong city in 2014 to function as a fundamental station for space geodesy researches in combination with other space geodesy systems (GNSS, VLBI, DORIS, etc.).

1. INTRODUCTION
 2. DESCRIPTION OF DAEK STATION SYSTEM
  2.1 Optical System
  2.2 Optoelectronic System
  2.3 Laser System
  2.4 Tracking Mount
  2.5 Operation System
 3. LASER RANGING RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
  3.1 Ground Target Ranging
  3.2 Satellite Ranging
 4. CONCLUSIONS
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 REFERENCES

• Man-Soo Choi(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Chungnam National University) Corresponding Author
• Hyung-Chul Lim(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Eun-Jung Choi(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Eunseo Park(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Sung-Yeol Yu(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Seong-Cheol Bang(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Tae-Keun Kim(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Young-Rok Kim(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Dong-Jin Kim(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Kipyung Seong(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Neung-Hyun Ka(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Cer-Hee Choi(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Joo-Yeon Hwang(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Daniel Kucharski(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• In-Woo Han(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Jakyoung Nah(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Jung-Guen Jang(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Bi-Ho Jang(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Sang-Jung Lee(Chungnam National University)