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Seoul — South Korea says it has successfully launched a small but working satellite into orbit. first homemade rocket Tuesday will bring the country closer to its dream of becoming a new player in the space industry and deploy its own spy satellites to better monitor North Korea.
three-stage Nuri Built by the government’s Korea Aerospace Research Institute in conjunction with hundreds of local companies, the rocket was launched at 4 pm on Tuesday from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, in the southwestern tip of South Korea.
Seventy minutes after takeoff, South Korea announced that Nuri had succeeded in its mission to launch a 357-pound working satellite, as well as a 1.3-tonne dummy satellite, into orbit 435 miles above Earth. .
The takeoff was a moment of national pride when it was shown live on all major television channels and television channels in the country. YouTube science channels Ahead of the launch, the government and local media had declared the Nouri mission a pivotal event in which South Korea would gain a foothold in the war. space technology, the latest high-tech market where the country decided to become a player.
“South Korea’s science and technology has taken a huge step forward today,” said Lee Jong-ho, the government’s minister of science and technology, while announcing the mission’s success at a nationally televised press conference. “We’ve now laid the groundwork for launching our own satellites whenever we want, without having to depend on other countries’ rockets and launch stations.”
For decades, South Korea has fueled its ambitions to join the elite club of nations capable of launching communications and other satellites in orbit using domestic rockets. It also wanted to send its own surveillance satellites into space to better monitor a growing nuclear and missile threat from North Korea.
After multiple delays and failures, South Korea bay In 2013, a satellite was sent into orbit for the first time for research and development. But the two-stage rocket used for this mission – the Naro – was built jointly with Russia. South Korea spent approximately 1.9 trillion won ($1.5 billion) developing its own technology to develop the 200-tonne Nuri, also known as the Korean Space Launch Vehicle-II.
At Nuri’s first test launch last October, the rocket launched a dummy 1.5-ton satellite 434 miles above Earth. However, it developed a problem with its oxidizer tank, and it burned sooner than planned, failing to give the dummy satellite enough velocity to stabilize and stay in orbit.
Nuri was carrying not only a 1.3-tonne dummy satellite but also a 357-pound performance verification satellite for its second test launch on Tuesday. This marks the first time South Korea has launched a real working satellite on a domestic rocket.
Ahn Sang-il, senior researcher at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, said the performance verification satellite will help scientists prepare to launch more satellites in the future by testing an antenna, generator, and other satellite components and transmitting orbital data to Earth. .
Four mini-research satellites, CubeSats, built by South Korean universities have been added to the performance verification satellite. Weighing between 7 and 21 pounds, they will be released into orbit one at a time starting June 29.
South Korea plans to carry out four more test launches of the Nuri system by 2027, one of which is scheduled for early next year. He is also developing a new rocket twice as powerful as Nuri. The country aims to land an uncrewed spacecraft on the moon using its own rocket by the early 2030s.
South Korea hopes to build satellite-based navigation and next-generation communications networks using its own rocket technologies. It also wants to get a share of the world satellite launch market. Most rocket launches worldwide have been carried out by the USA, Russia, France, China, Japan and India.
Until now, South Korea relied on other countries to transport its satellites. South Korea used a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, to orbit its first military communications satellite in July last year. It plans to launch a lunar orbiter with a Falcon 9 rocket this fall.
Tuesday’s launch highlighted an arms race on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea does not have a military spy satellite of its own, but instead relies on American satellites to monitor North Korea. As the North’s missile threats escalated, South Korea wanted to use its own rockets to place its own “eyes and ears” in space.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said at a Labor Party meeting last year that his government had completed the design of a military reconnaissance satellite. He said his country will deploy the satellite in the near future.
United Nations Security Council North Korea bans space rocket launch because it was used by Pyongyang to develop long-range ballistic missiles, he said. North Korea against this ban, launched satellite spacecraft Before successfully testing three intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2017.
Between February 27 and 25 MayIt conducted six missile tests involving ICBMs or ICBM components, according to US and South Korean officials. In the first two of these tests, North Korea said it was testing a satellite launch vehicle.
North Korea has denounced the North’s space projects as cover for a weapons program, while accusing South Korea and the United States of “double standards” for expanding their own space programs.
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