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The Nuri rocket, the first domestically produced space rocket, lifts off from a launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea. Photo: AP

South Korea launches new rocket Nuri in great leap forward for space programme, but fails to put dummy satellite in orbit

  • Nuri, Seoul’s first domestically produced space launch vehicle, completed its flight sequence but failed to put its dummy payload in orbit
  • It reached a target altitude of 700km above Earth, putting South Korea almost on a par with countries with their own satellite launch capability, such as the US, Russia and China
South Korea
South Korea on Thursday successfully launched its first domestically developed space rocket, marking a great leap forward for the country’s space programme as Seoul sets its sights on 6G networks and spy satellites.

However, the three-stage Nuri rocket, emblazoned with the Korean national flag, did not succeed in putting a 1.5-tonne dummy satellite into a low orbit of 700km above the Earth after 16 minutes of flight from the launch site in Goheung.

“The Nuri rocket completed its flight sequences. I am proud of it. But regretfully it failed to achieve the goal completely. It was already a great feat that it successfully reached the target altitude of 700km above the earth,” said President Moon Jae-in in a statement. Moon said the country will fix the shortcomings and hopefully achieve complete success when it launches a second Nuri rocket in May next year.

“It was a 90 per cent success,” said Lee Chun-geun, a senior researcher at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.

He noted the first stage rocket, a cluster of four 75-tonne engines that represented the most serious technical hurdle, had operated normally while other flight sequences including the second stage and pairing separation were all successful.

“Data obtained from this test launch will be enormous and extremely helpful in ensuring the next launch will be a success,” he said.

As North Korea escalates, calls grow for Seoul, Tokyo to get nuclear weapons

The launch, overseen by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), was among a series of tests aimed to ensure the rocket is reliable enough to carry a real satellite into orbit in May next year.

“This is a great leap forward in South Korea’s efforts to have its own launch vehicle,” said Lee.

The Nuri (Korean for “world”) rocket weighs 200 tonnes and is 47.2 metres long. It is fitted with a total of six liquid-fuelled engines. The 1.9 trillion won (US$1.6 billion) project has been in development for 10 years, and comes after the US removed restrictions on South Korea’s rocket development in place since the Cold War.

South Korea's first home-grown space rocket “Nuri” lifts off from the Naro Space Centre on Thursday. Photo: AFP

South Korea has sped ahead with its military and civilian missile capabilities, allowing it to try to play catch up with more advanced space programmes in China and Japan.

“Modern rocketry in Korea couldn’t devote its capability much in R&D of rockets because of long-standing political issues,” said Han Sang-yeop, director of KARI’s Launcher Reliability Safety Quality Assurance Division.

South Korea is aiming to put satellites into geostationary orbit, about 36,000km above Earth’s equator. It is also planning to land a lunar probe by 2030.

The KSLV-II Nuri is South Korea’s first space launch vehicle built entirely with home-grown technology. Photo: KARI/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
The country’s previous rocket launch blasted off from the Naro spaceport in 2013 after multiple delays and several failed tests. It was jointly developed with Russia.

“Having its own launch vehicle gives a country the flexibility of payload types and launch schedule,” said Han of KARI.

It also gives the country more control over “confidential payloads” it may want to send into orbit, he said.

People wait for the launch of the Nuri rocket on Thursday. Photo: Yonhap via AP

That will be important for South Korea’s plans to launch surveillance satellites into orbit, in what national security officials have called a constellation of “unblinking eyes” to monitor

.

So far, South Korea has remained almost totally reliant on the US for satellite intelligence on its northern neighbour.

The lift-off came amid tensions over Pyongyang’s test-firing of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the North foreign ministry dismissed what it called a “nonsensical” reaction from the US and the UN Security Council over its “rightful exercise of right to defence”.

The UN Security Council held an emergency closed-door meeting in New York on Wednesday to discuss the missile test, which the US State Department condemned as a violation of UNSC resolutions and a threat to the region.

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Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said North Korea is likely to adopt a “dismissive tone” towards Seoul’s rocket launch.

“The North will conduct a series of its own missile tests in coming weeks before offering dialogue in time for the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022,” he said.

Nuri is also key to South Korean plans to eventually build a Korean satellite-based navigation system and a 6G communications network.

Last year, a Falcon 9 rocket from the US firm SpaceX carried South Korea’s first dedicated military communications satellite into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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China rockets ahead in space race with first satellite launch from floating sea platform

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“North Korea, of course, will not look favourably on South Korea’s rapidly advancing space capabilities, which are far more technologically advanced than those possessed by Pyongyang,” said James Clay Moltz, a space systems expert at the US Naval Postgraduate School.

“Many space launch technologies are inherently dual-use,” he said.

Moltz noted that he hopes Nuri’s development will “not lead to an arms race in space, but instead a safer ‘information race’” where South Korea has better intelligence to head off any future crisis.

China’s space breakthroughs put a rocket under Japan

Chang Young-keun, professor of the Korea Aerospace University, also ruled out the possibility of the Nuri rocket being diverted to military purposes, pointing to how it uses liquid fuel instead of solid fuel deployed in missiles.

“The issue in question is whether South Korean rockets can secure reliability through successive launches and whether the country can stand alone in the global space industry despite its tiny domestic demand,” Chang said.

“China’s space industry has a large domestic market and Japan has highly reliable space rockets,” he added.

Additional reporting by Reuters

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Rocket soars but satellite slips
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