Successful test launch for South Korea rocket
SOUTH Korea has test-launched its first domestically produced space rocket in what officials describe as an important step in the country’s pursuit of a satellite launch programme.
The rocket reached its desired altitude but failed to deliver a dummy payload into orbit.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in still described the test as an “excellent accomplishment”.
The three-stage Nuri rocket was aiming to deliver the dummy payload – a 1.5-ton block of stainless steel and aluminium – into orbit 372 to 497 miles above the Earth.
Live footage showed the 47-metre rocket soaring into the air following blast-off at Naro Space Centre, the country’s lone spaceport, on a small island off its southern coast.
Science minister Lim Hye-sook said Nuri’s first and second stages separated properly and that the third stage ejected the payload at 435 miles above Earth.
But she said launch data suggested that the third stage’s engine burned out early after 475 seconds, about 50 seconds shorter than planned, failing to provide the payload with enough speed to stabilise in orbit.
Officials from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (Kari), the country’s space agency, said debris from the payload would have landed in waters south of Australia.
The launch had been delayed by an hour because engineers needed more time to examine the rocket’s valves. There had also been concerns that strong winds and other conditions would pose challenges for a successful launch.
After relying on other countries to launch its satellites since the early 1990s, South Korea is now trying to become the 10th nation to send a satellite into space with its own technology.
Officials say such an ability would be crucial for the country’s space ambitions, which include plans for sending more advanced communications satellites and acquiring its own military intelligence satellites. The country is also hoping to send a probe to the moon by 2030.