31 January 2013

South Korea succeeded in launching a space rocket for the first time on its third attempt. Seeing eleven years of effort pay off, the Naro rocket reached a target altitude nine minutes after takeoff and placed a satellite in orbit, said the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on Wednesday, January 30.

The government also confirmed that a satellite research center at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon received a signal from the satellite at 3:28 a.m. the next day and it is fully operational.

The Naro, also known as the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), was launched from Naro Space Center located in the southwestern region of the peninsula at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The blastoff was so strong that vibrations and noise were felt at the press center five kilometers from the launch pad.


The shields covering the satellite payload located on the top of the rocket successfully separated 215 seconds after blastoff at an altitude of 177 kilometers. After 232 seconds, the first-stage rocket finished its duty and was retired. After 395 seconds, the second-stage entered the target orbit.

When the announcement that the satellite had successfully separated from the second-stage rocket was made at 4:09 p.m., everyone cheered at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, Jeollanam-do (South Jeolla Province). At 5:26 p.m., KAIST confirmed that a ground station in Norway had received a beacon signal for ten minutes from the separated satellite, meaning it is right on the target orbit.

At 3:27 a.m. on January 31, the satellite research center at KAIST announced that it received a signal from the satellite, and received a beacon signal for 14 minutes 58 seconds starting at 3:28 a.m.


After the first communication, it communicated with the satellite for the second time at 5:11 a.m., meaning the entire mission from the rocket launch to satellite operation had been a success.

The successful launch transformed Korea into a space power, a meaningful outcome because Korea was a late-comer in space development.

“We were late to start space development,” said Lee Sang-ryul, a director of satellite research and development of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). “We started from scratch 20 to 25 years ago and continued with determination to overcome any obstacles.”

Korea tried to send the same rocket into the orbit in 2009 and 2010 but to no avail. The government laid out a plan to launch Naro in 2002 and two years later it signed a contract with Russia to help develop the rocket. Under the contract, Russia provided the first-stage booster rocket and system operation technology while Korea developed the second-stage rocket.


In August 2009, the rocket failed to put its satellite in orbit due to the failure of one of its two shields covering the satellite to separate. In June 2010, a rocket carrying another satellite exploded two minutes into its flight.

“Experience counts most,” Lee said, addressing the success after two failed attempts. “Tens of thousands of components should work precisely. The past attempts failed but they were only a part of preparation. Other countries have walked similar paths.”

According to the ministry, South Korea has become the eleventh nation in the world to a rocket into space from its own soil.

“Although we started late, we learned a lot in launching space rockets and managing the system,” said Minister Lee Joo-ho.

Now the satellite is in an elliptical orbit 300 kilometers above the Earth at the nearest and 1,500 kilometers at the farthest. The satellite weighs 100 kilograms and makes one revolution around the earth every 103 minutes, or 14 times a day. It is programmed to check whether it is on the right trajectory, do scientific observations, and test new technologies.


Regardless of the Naro space program, South Korea has been working to develop its own rocket with a 260-ton thrust, which consists of four 75-ton engines, to be completed around 2021. Korea depended on Russian technology for Naro’s booster rocket and engine.

“We gained confidence from the success,” said Lee Sang-ryul. “Korea’s indigenous booster rocket -- when it is developed -- will go through a process similar to Naro development.”

KARI intends to send multipurpose and science satellites into orbit one after another and to launch a mission to the moon in 2023 and a landing craft to the natural satellite in 2025.

Korea launched its first satellite Uribyol-1 (KITSAT-1) in 1992, followed by broadcasting and telecommunication satellite Mugunghwa-1 (KOREASAT-1) in 1995, multipurpose satellite Arirang-1(KOMPSAT-1) in 1999, and Arirang-2 and Mugunghwa-5 in 2006, among others.

By Limb Jae-un