Photo: Reuters
It may come as a surprise to some that a nation as tech-savvy as South Korea never developed its own in-house space rocket launch system. Well, better late than never, and the new Nuri rocket system’s first service launch impressed in some areas and fell short in others.
The all-new, all South Korean Nuri rocket system consists of three stages, all built by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute with the help of financial backings from hundreds of South Korean companies. In addition, the rocket carried a dummy payload approximately 1.5 tons in weight.
Reports from South Korean Mission Control revealed the ignition of the first stage then subsequent transfer to the second and third stages was largely successful. Only after the third stage failed to burn for a sufficient period was the mission declared a partial failure.
After the launch, South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced that the rocket was unsuccessful in its planned objective. Even so, the launch had still given data vital to the advancement of the program in the future.
South Korea is more compelled than ever to establish a foothold in low Earth orbit, as its bitter enemies to the North have shown no signs of slowing down their nuclear ICBM program in recent months.
South Korea has collaborated with other space-faring nations like Russia and the United States in the past to help them establish a presence in space. Notably, the Russian space agency co-developed the Naro rocket, which successfully launched a payload into orbit in 2013. Additionally, they employed the assistance of a Space X Falcon 9 rocket to launch a top-secret military satellite successfully into orbit in 2020.
It’s hoped that the data gathered from this latest partial failure will bring newfound reliability to the brand new rocket program. For a space administration still in its infancy compared to that of other established space agencies, they’re still farther ahead than most any other country on earth, relatively speaking, of course.
Reports from South Korean Mission Control revealed the ignition of the first stage then subsequent transfer to the second and third stages was largely successful. Only after the third stage failed to burn for a sufficient period was the mission declared a partial failure.
After the launch, South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced that the rocket was unsuccessful in its planned objective. Even so, the launch had still given data vital to the advancement of the program in the future.
South Korea is more compelled than ever to establish a foothold in low Earth orbit, as its bitter enemies to the North have shown no signs of slowing down their nuclear ICBM program in recent months.
South Korea has collaborated with other space-faring nations like Russia and the United States in the past to help them establish a presence in space. Notably, the Russian space agency co-developed the Naro rocket, which successfully launched a payload into orbit in 2013. Additionally, they employed the assistance of a Space X Falcon 9 rocket to launch a top-secret military satellite successfully into orbit in 2020.
It’s hoped that the data gathered from this latest partial failure will bring newfound reliability to the brand new rocket program. For a space administration still in its infancy compared to that of other established space agencies, they’re still farther ahead than most any other country on earth, relatively speaking, of course.
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