On October 21, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) conducted its first orbital test launch of the "Korean Space Launch Vehicle" (KSLV) 2 carrier rocket at the Rohan Space Center on Rohan Island outside of Gyeongsang County, Jeollanam do. The rocket ignited and took off at 17:00 Seoul time (16:00 Beijing time). The separation of stars and arrows should be carried out after 16 minutes and 7 seconds according to the plan.

At first glance, the launch appeared to be progressing smoothly and seemed to have achieved success. The relevant parties first expressed their intention to conduct data analysis to see if the rocket has entered the predetermined orbit, but the results have not been announced yet. Until about an hour later, South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced that the rocket could not enter the scheduled orbit.

According to the largest English newspaper in South Korea, the Korean Herald, KARI officials stated before the launch that the probability of the test being successful is only 30%.

KSLV-2 is the first domestically produced carrier rocket in South Korea, divided into three stages, with a diameter of 3.5 meters, a height of 47.2 meters, a weight of 200 tons, and a low Earth orbit carrying capacity of 1.5 tons for 600-800 kilometers and 2.6 tons for 300 kilometers. The arrow was named "World" (Nuri) in September 2018. The third stage of the rocket uses liquid oxygen/kerosene propellant, with four KRE-075 (75 ton class) engines in the first stage, a single KRE-075 engine equipped with a vacuum expansion nozzle in the second stage, and a single KRE-007 (7-ton class) engine in the third stage.

KARI successfully launched a test rocket of KSLV-2 at the end of November 2018, with the aim of assessing key components such as domestically produced engines. The engine worked for 151 seconds during flight. The maximum flight altitude of the rocket is 209 kilometers. The experimental arrow is a single-stage aircraft equipped with only one KRE-075 engine. It was originally planned to have two stages to assess the upper stage engine of KRE-007, but the second stage was later changed to a quality simulator.

This is South Korea's first attempt at orbital launch in nearly 9 years. After two consecutive defeats in August 2008 and June 2010, South Korea successfully launched the "Technology Star" 2C satellite on January 30, 2013, using the KSLV-1 ("Luo Lao" 1) rocket from the Luo Lao Space Center, becoming the 11th country to have the capability to launch a satellite on its own. However, as a two-stage rocket, the KSLV-1 had its first stage provided by Russia and had a low orbit carrying capacity of only 100 kilograms. It was retired after that launch. Its first stage is basically the same as the URM-1 first stage of the Russian "Angara" rocket, but it uses a performance reduced RD-151 engine instead of the RD-191 used by the "Angara" rocket. The second stage adopts a solid rocket engine developed by South Korea itself.

The launch carried a simulated payload weighing 1.5 tons, also known as a mass simulator or fake satellite. KARI announced at the end of August that the second test launch scheduled for May 19th next year will carry a fake satellite weighing 1.3 tons and a performance verification satellite weighing 200 kilograms. The goal of both test flights is to send the satellite into a sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers.

The KSLV-2 development project, which took nearly 12 years, aims to bring autonomous launch capabilities to South Korea and enable it to compete in the international market. The rocket development work has received participation from South Korean aerospace companies, with Hanhua Aerospace Corporation responsible for manufacturing engines, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) responsible for rocket assembly, and Hyundai Heavy Industries undertaking the construction of launch pads. Including the construction of the launch site, the estimated development cost is 1.96 trillion Korean won (1.7 billion US dollars).

Before the launch, Lin Huishu, the Minister of Science and Information Technology of South Korea, stated that the "World" is "our country's own carrier rocket developed with the sweat, blood, and tears of many South Korean researchers and companies." She believes that this launch will become a milestone in the history of our aerospace development.

Korean engineering technicians are working on developing a lighter and more powerful model of the KRE-075 engine to increase the typical orbital payload capacity of the KSLV-2 from 1.5 tons to 2.8 tons. Han also plans to develop a modified version of KSLV-2 that can send satellites to geosynchronous orbit. The first stage of this modification will use four KRE-090 engines and be equipped with four boosters each with one KRE-090 engine. The second stage will use one KRE-090 engine, while the third stage will use one KRE-010 engine.

The Korean aerospace industry has made significant progress in the past decade, with a notable improvement in satellite manufacturing capabilities. The first two domestically produced geostationary orbit satellites in South Korea were launched in 2018 and 2020 respectively for weather monitoring and ocean research missions. The Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) is currently under construction and is scheduled to be launched by the space exploration company's Falcon 9 rocket next year. It will use the Korean American scientific instruments on board to explore and research the moon.

Source: Hang Xiaoyu