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| The Nuri space rocket lifts off from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, Oct. 21, 2021, during its first launch. Korea will try the second launch of the Nuri on June 15. Courtesy of Korea Aerospace Research Institute |
KARI said it learned lesson from failed 1st launch
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korea is set to attempt a second launch of the homegrown Nuri space rocket on June 15 after its first launch failed in October 2021.
A committee at the Ministry of Science and ICT, which manages the launch of the Nuri rocket or Korean Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-II), held a meeting on May 25. Since then, the committee has been reviewing technical preparations, weather conditions and the possibility of collisions with space objects and decided that June 15 would be the optimum launch date.
Aimed at securing the country's own space transport capability, the three-stage rocket, which weighs 200 tons and is 47.2 meters in height, is made with state-of-the-art technology.
About 500 people from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and 300 domestic companies including Hanwha Aerospace, which made the engine and Hyundai Heavy Industries, which made the launch pad, joined the Nuri project with a budget of nearly 2 trillion won ($1.6 billion) as of 2010.
The Nuri rocket is designed to push a 1.5-ton satellite into a low orbit of between 600 kilometers and 800 kilometers above the Earth. It will be equipped with four 75-ton liquid-fuel engines in the first stage; one 75-ton liquid-fuel engine in the second stage; and one 7-ton liquid-fuel engine in the third stage.
On Oct. 21, 2021, the country conducted the first launch of the space rocket at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, 473 kilometers south of Seoul. The three-stage space rocket flew to a target altitude of 700 kilometers, but failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit as its engine burned out 46 seconds earlier than expected.
KARI, which oversaw the launch, investigated the reason for the failure in December and concluded that the loosening of a device that anchors a helium tank, which is mounted inside the oxidizer tank in the third stage of the process, was found to have caused the early termination of the ignition.
To prevent another failure, KARI made an improvement in the helium tank by strengthening the anchor on the lower support and reinforcing the thickness of the manhole cover so that Nuri can fly stably even in a rapidly-changing environment during flight.
The government has high expectations of the success of the second launch as the part that was a problem in the first launch has been corrected.
"After the first launch, domestic researchers and industry officials have done their best to technically supplement Nuri," Oh Tae-seog, first vice minister of the science ministry and the head of the launch committee, said. "This time, we will do our best to launch our satellite for the first time."
If Nuri succeeds in its second launch, Korea will be the seventh country to launch a space rocket with its own technology, following Russia, the United States, France, China, Japan and India, which possess the independent capability of placing an over 1-ton satellite into orbit.
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| The Nuri space rocket stands on a launch pad before its first launch at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, Oct. 21, 2021. Joint Press Corps |
The launch is expected to take place between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. But the exact timing of the launch will be decided after several meetings have taken place on the day ― June 15. The launch committee said more than 95 percent of the preparations have been completed. The first stage and the second stage are already combined, and the final third stage rocket is in the component assembly stage.
The criteria for the success of the launch will be decided by whether the satellite that the rocket carries is placed into orbit successfully and whether the ground station succeeds in communicating with the satellite.
On the day before the launch, Nuri will be moved to the launch pad.
While the first Nuri rocket carried a 1.5-ton dummy satellite during the first launch, it will carry a 180-kilogram performance verification satellite this time, developed to test the Nuri rocket's capabilities, and four cube satellites, developed by four universities and designed to perform simple missions.
The cube satellites will be separated one by one every two days after the performance verification satellite is placed into orbit. They will perform a given mission such as observing fine dust on the Korean Peninsula and the East Sea.
Successful launch leads to Moon exploration
Korea expects that the successful launch of Nuri could lead to the country's attempt to explore the Moon's surface as it is scheduled to launch its first-ever lunar orbiter in August.
By succeeding in both projects, Korea expects to secure transportation to space and space exploration-related technologies. At a time when the world enters a new phase of the Space Age, it is an essential gateway for the country to secure space development technology and foster the space industry to solidify its position as one of the space powerhouses.
For the lunar orbiter, the country held a naming contest from the public from January to February and "Danuri" ― a combination of the Korean words "dal" (Moon) and "nuri" (enjoy) ― were chosen as the official name for the lunar orbiter.
"We will not only bring together the interest and passion of the people to support our lunar orbiter to carry out its successful mission, but we will not stop challenging the space powerhouses," Koh Seo-gon, director of R&D policy at the science ministry, said during an award ceremony for the naming contest for Danuri, May 23.
The Danuri orbiter will fly to the Moon being carried by a Space X Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Aug. 3. It weighs 678 kilograms and is equipped with five pieces of observation equipment developed using Korean technology and equipment of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Once it arrives at lunar orbit after flying for four-and-a-half months, the Danuri travels for a year to observe the Moon's resources and magnetic fields. It will also explore the candidate landing sites as the country aims to send a lunar landing module in 2031.
