Self-made rocket due 2018

Following the success of Naro, or the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) Korea will speed up its efforts to join the league of global space power by bringing forward its plan to launch a rocket entirely built using local technology.

At a press conference Wednesday, Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) President Kim Seoung-jo said that it will accelerate the set date for the launch of the larger KSLV-2 to 2018 or 2019 from current schedule of 2021.

“We have learned much from Russia through the Naro project. I believe we can develop our own first-stage based on the technology and knowhow we have acquired,” said the president.

While more than 160 South Korean companies were involved in the assembly and launching of the KSLV-1, the core technology of the two-stage rocket was provided by Russian engineers, who partnered with KARI on all three attempts.

Kim said that the institute’s Russian partners, who committed to three launches of Naro, will also take part in the development of the KSLV-2.

The nation aims to spend 1.54 trillion won on the KSLV-2. Incoming President Park Geun-hye has already promised a larger budget and an earlier launch. KARI said that over 80 percent of the new rocket will be locally made.

The space center will be also expanded with additional facilities to house the KSLV-2 and a new launch pad. Goheung County will build a space cluster around the center costing 1 trillion won.

The KSLV-2 is just one of the ambitious projects of KARI, which also plans to launch and land a probe on the moon by 2025. Park, who plans to create a “super’’ ministry overseeing science and information technology (IT), hopes the project could be executed by 2020.

Unlike the KSLV-1, the KSLV-2 will be a three-stage rocket measuring 50 meters in height and 3 meters in diameter. The first stage of the rocket will have four liquid-fuel rocket engines, each providing around 75 to 80 tons of thrust.

Another rocket engine with similar power will be installed in the second-stage of the rocket, while the third-stage, which will carry the satellite, will have a pressure-fed rocket engine generating about 5 tons of thrust.

The KSLV-II will be used to send a 1.5-kilogram satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of somewhere between 600 to 800 kilometers.

The government funds will be spent on designing, building and testing the rocket systems, developing advanced rocket engines, constructing rocket testing facilities and launch equipment, and conducting flight tests.

As with its Asian neighboring nations, Korea’s space aspirations are motivated by national pride and commercial development. The pressure for a successful launch was heighted for South Korea last month when North Korea successfully launched its own rocket.

However, unlike China, Japan and India, who are considering the goals of manned spaceflights and cashing in on the expanding market for satellite launch services, South Koreans are maintaining a more modest, pick-and-choose approach. <The Korea Times/Kim Tong-hyung>