Korea has successfully launched an aviation satellite that will help enhance the accuracy of navigational signals.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the aviation satellite was launched from Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana at around 6:50 a.m. on Thursday, successfully carrying out each sequence of fairing and first-stage separations.

The satellite is programmed to enter a geostationary orbit in 12 days, and navigational services are expected to commence in 2023 after trial runs.

The aviation satellite is needed for the operation of the Korea Augmentation Satellite System, a locally developed precision navigation system that can reduce the scale of error for global positioning system(GPS) signals from the current 15 to 33-meter range to one to one-point-six meters.

The transport ministry said the satellite will provide much more precise and reliable GPS information to future mobility services, such as navigation, drones, autonomous driving and Urban Air Mobility.